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■ ?

• t . - \ -

'■'■.■— ^

ENGLISH HISTORY
I READING BOOKS

.: A1>AStEa TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE NEW CODE

CHARLOTTE M. YONGE

*IHE HKIR OF REDCLVFFE ' '

fe

':?!•'

LONDON

^Iational Society's Depository

broad sanctuary, westminster

r> D E C -■

PREFACE

In this book, which is intended for the Fifth Standard, the events
of English History from the Reformation onwards to the present
time, have been treated in as full a manner as space and the in-
telligence of the children would permit. The endeavour has been
to state facts as impartially as possible, and this cannot but lead to
some baldness in the narrative. Allusion to burning questions
and living statesmen has been as much as possible avoided ; and
in the choice of poetry, the pieces breathing very strongly of par-
tisanship have not been selected, but chiefly those which cannot
but carry along with them general consent. The extracts from the
Rape of the Lock and from Retaliation have been taken as illustra-
tions of manners, and as giving specimens from the poets named in
the text.

Frequent reference throughout children's school life should be
made to the genealogical tables, and the lists of battles and events.
Also the pupils should be exerc'ised in answering the questions vivA
voce as in writing. For this purpose the lists of Persons, Places, and
Dates at the ends of the lessons wi!l be found very serviceable.

CONTENTS.

(The Titles of the Poetical Pieces are printed in Italics.^

lenry VII.

^outh of Henry VIII. .
"^he Battle of Flodden
'he Royal Supremacy .

Do. do.

^he Fall cf Wolsey
)estruction of the Monas

teries
^he Lady in the Tower
Mward VI.

Do.
^dy Jane Grey .
)ueen Mary I.
liccession of Elizabeth .
^be Days of Good Queen

Bess .
Hr Humfrey Gilbert .
"he Spanish Armada

Do. do,

^he Armada .
"he Union of the Crowns
wcign of James I.
Charles I. and Bucking

ham .
Tie Long Parliament .
'he Great Rebellion .
^arston Moor
Hie Fugitive King .
'he Death of Charles I.
?» a Quiet Conscience .
Anes by Andrew Marvell

on the Execution of

Charles I, .
The Commonwealth . .
The Restoration
^e Old Ccpvalier . . .
The Papist and Rye-House

Plots . . . .
rhe Revolution . . .

PAGE

7
12

i6

20
24
28

31

36
38
41
44
49
54

58
64

67
69

73
79
84

89

95
100

107

109

III

116

117
118

124

129

136

LESSON PAGE

33. William III. and Mary II. 142

34. The War of the Spanish

Succession . . .146
3S' Do 148

36. The Battle of Blenheim . 152

37. The Union of England and

Scotland . . .154

38. Hampton Court Palace in

Queen Antics Time . 159

39. The. War of the Austrian

Succession . . .160

40. A Tradition of Culloden . 165

41. The Seven Years' V/ar . 167

42. The American War . .171

43. The Times of the Great

French Revolution . 176

44. Characters of Burke ^ Gar-

rick, and Reynolds . .181

45. The English Victories by

Sea .... 183

46. Do. do. . .185

47. The Battle of the Baltic . 189

48. The Deaths of Nelson^ Pitt,

and Fox . . . 192

49. The Peninsular War . .195

50. The Burial of Sir John

Moore at Corunna . 199

51. Waterloo . . . . 201

52. The Crisis of Waterloo . 206

53. The Thirty Years' Peace . 209

54. Reform .... 213

55. The Morning Dream . .218

56. Early Years of Queen Vic-

toria .... 220

57. The Duke's Funeral . . 225

58. Wars under Queen Victoria 228

59. Balaklatfa . . . . 233

60. The Second Twenty Vic-

ENGLISH HISTORY READING BOOKS

PART IV.

ENGLISH MODERN HISTORY.

I. HENRY VII.

1. The reign of Henry VII. brought peace to the
English, who were wearied out with the long wars of
York and Lancaster. The two lines were joined
together when Henry, the descendant of John of
Gaunt, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Ed-
ward IV. A rose, both red and white, was therefore
taken as the badge of the Tudor family.

2. All the Lancastrian nobles who had been in
hiding, and in great poverty, came forth once more.
Among them was the son of that Lord Clifford who
had killed the young Earl of Rutland. His mother
had sent him to a shepherd in Westmoreland, and he
had been bred up to tend the sheep, never knowing
his high birth, till he was brought to his own castle,
and restored to his place and rank. He was a good
and wise man, and the Shepherd Lordy as he Wcis
called, was much loved.

3. Margaret, Duchess of BuigTvxvdcj ^ >0£v^ €va\.<^x

8 REIGN OF HENRY VIL

of Edward IV., hated Henry VIL, and so did
other friends of the House of York. The son of
her brother George, Duke of Clarence, was weak in
mind, and had always been kept shut up, though he
bore the title of Earl of Warwick, which he had
inherited from his grandfather, the King-maker.
Everyone was surprised to hear a report that this
young Earl was in Ireland, with an army, claiming
to have his lands given to him.

4. King Henry made the real Earl ride through
London that everyone might see him ; but Duchess
Margaret sent the false one both men and money.
The man then landed in England, but he was soon
overcome and made prisoner. He confessed that
his name was Lambert Simnel, and that he was
the son of a baker, who had been trained by an
ambitious priest to act the part of the Earl of
Warwick. Henry forgave him and made him a
scullion in the royal kitchen.

5. In the year 1491, another young man ap-
peared. He called himself Richardy Duke of York,
the younger of the two princes who had disappeared
in the Tower. The Duchess of Burgundy treated
him as her nephew, and the Kings of France and
Scotland appeared to believe in his claim. Indeed
the young Scottish King, James IV., raised an army
and came with him to England to help him to gain
the crown.

6. However, the young man did not shew himself
brave, nor act like a prince, and James soon gave up

^/s cause, m^de ^ treaty with E.tvg\aTvd, ^.\\^l ^to-

EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF WAR WICK. 9

mised to marry Henry's daughter Margaret.
Before long, the supposed Duke was deserted by all
who had joined him, and was taken by the King.
He was forced to confess publicly, in London, that
he was a young Fleming, named Perkin Warbeck,
and he was then shut up in the Tower of London.

7. There he met the Earl of Warwick, and
the two young men became friends. Perkin per-
suaded the Earl to join him in trying to make their
escape, but their plans were found out, and they
were both tried and put to death, though the
poor young Earl had been kept in captivity all his
life, and had never done harm to any one.

8. The real cause of this cruel and unjust act
was that King Henry wished to marry his eldest
son, Arthur y Prince of Wales, to Katharine of
Aragon, the daughter of the King and Queen of
Spain, and he had found that her father did not
believe that the house of Tudor could be safe upon
the throne so long as any male of the family of
Plantagenet survived. After the death of the Earl
of Warwick, Katharine was brought to England
and the wedding took place, but while the Prince
and Princess were still children, Arthur died. The
King then wished to give Katharine to his next
son, Henry, but as this would have been against the
Canon^ or rule of the Church, it could not be done
without a dispensation ^ from the Pope.

* Canon, a rule of the church.

' DIspensatioB, permission granted V>7 VVe'^o^^ ^a eiNs.^ae^'*-
rale of the church.

REIGN OF HENRY VII.

[demi-lancer in full armour, time of liENKY \II.J

g. The reign of Heniy VII. was a time of rest,

and of preparing {or great changes. Most of the

S^eat nobles bad suffered terribly in ttie NJat?, ol ftvt

HIS DEATH. II

Roses, and the families who remained were not
nearly so strong or so rich as before. Henry would
not let any noble keep great bands of armed gentle-
men and servants in his service, and heavily fined
or imprisoned whoever attempted to do so. He
had two judges, named Dudley and Empsotiy who
were much hated for carrying out all the hard
unjust things he chose to have done. Thus the
Crown grew more powerful, and the tradespeople
and the peasants began to prosper, while the power
of the nobles decayed.

lo. The abbeys and monasteries had been much
damaged also by the war. Soldiers had been
quartered on them, sometimes robbing them, and
often teaching the monks their lawless ungodly
ways. Learning was not so much the fashion in
abbeys as it had been ; the abbots were often like great
farmers, and in the lesser houses there was much dis-
order. The chief places for study were the schools
and colleges, especially at Oxford and Cambridge,
where many fresh colleges were founded. Scholars
there were studying the New Testament in Greek,
and looking deeply into the Bible, and, as printing
was becoming more common, it was much easier to
spread knowledge abroad.

II. Henry VH. was a grasping covetous man,
but he added to Westminster Abbey a most beau-
tiful chapel which bears his name. He was there
buried, when he died of an ague in 1 509^ leavltv^
three children, namely HeiU7, ULai^^x^X^ \5vwCvRi^^^
James IV. of Scotland, and TtwEy-

12 REIGN OF HENRY VI IL

Persons : Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.— Margaret,
Duchess of Burgundy— The Earl of Warwick— Katharine of
Aragon.

Dates: Accession of Henry VII., 1485— Perkin Warbeck's
Rebellion, 1491— Death of Henry VII., 1509.

II. YOUTH OF HENRY VIII.

1. Henry VIII. was a fine young man of
eighteen years old when he came to the throne in
1 509. He was tall, well made, skilful in all manly
exercises, and well trained in scholarship ; for whilst
his elder brother was alive, there had been some idea
of bringing him up to a clerical life and making him
Archbishop of Canterbury. All England admired
him and was proud of him, and he had such a
frank, hearty, good-natured manner that he kept
that love of the people all his life, in spite of many
deeds that ought to have forfeited it.

2. As a boy, he had been at first unwilling to
marry his brother Arthur's espoused wife, Katharine
of Aragon, as she was older than himself; but she
was a noble and gracious lady, and as he grew up,
he began to love her, so that he married her soon
after his father's death. They had one daughter,
who was named Mary, but all their other infants
died as soon as they were born.

3. Everything else went well with Henry. The
kingdom was richer and more powerful than it had
been since the time of Henry V., and the people of
3}) rajiks were more prosperous. Learning was

Nourishing at the universities, and there "wexe Vno

THOMAS IVOLSMV. 13

at least of the young men who were trained at Ox-
ford, who were making a good use of their studies.

4. John Colet, who was Dean of St. Paul's, was
a great preacher and explainer of the Scriptures,
and founded the school of St. Paul's. He caused
a new and easier Latin grammar to be drawn up
for his scholars, and tried to make the masters
understand that their pupils would learn better
if they were gently treated, instead of being always
beaten and ill used, according to the usual fashion
of the time in dealing with schoolboys.

5. Another of these Oxford scholars was
Thomas More. It was no longer the custom that
all lawyers should be clergy, and More was the
son of a judge, and was bred to the law. He had
a house and beautiful garden at Chelsea, where he
caused his son and daughters to be educated in all
the learning of the time. It was the resort of all
the best and ablest people of the time, and Sir
Thomas More himself was full of wit and drollery.
King Henry himself would often come to see him,
and walk about the garden paths with an arm
round his neck.

6. The King's chief adviser was Thomas Wolsey,
who is said to have been the son of a butcher, but
who had such talents as a statesman that he rose
in the world so as to hold all sorts of dignities.
He was Archbishop of York and Bishop of Win-
chester, and the Pope made him a Cardinal, and
likewise Legate, that is, the "So^^^ s»^^Oc^ x^^\^^-

sentative in the kingdom. He \v^.^ m^e.$i. ^^"^ *^^^

14 REIGN OF HENRY VI I L

last appointment, partly that he might have
authority to reform many of the evils that had
arisen in the English Church ; but he was too worldly
and ambitious to do much good in that way. No-
body had so many retainers,* or fed and clothed them
so magnificently as the Cardinal, and the splendour
in which he lived was the wonder of everyone.

7. Wolsey much wished to become Pope, and
he thought he should gain influence by making his
master interfere in the affairs of Italy, where the
Kings of France and Spain had long been at war.
A league was formed against King Louis XII.
of France by the reigning Pope, Julius II., who was
to raise the Italians against him, while Henry VIII.
and his father-in-law, Ferdinand of Spain, attacked
France in two places, Henry being led to hope
that he should regain Bordeaux and all that had
been lost in the time of Henry VI.

8. In 1513 Henry himself, with a splendid
army, landed at Calais, and laid siege to the city
of Teroiienne, The French army met him at
Giiingate ; and he gained a victory, which the
English called the Battle of the Spurs, because
their enemies galloped away so fast. Terouenne
soon surrendered, and he then besieged Tournay,

9. The French King and Queen thought that
the best way to free themselves from Henry would
be to stir up the Scots to give him trouble at home.
So the Queen sent James IV. a turquoise ring and
a ^love^ with a charge that he should break a

' R^tam&cs^ attendants, setvan\&

THE BATTLE OF FLODDEN. 15

lance * in England for her sake. James called up all
his bravest men, much against the advice of. his wise
old lords, and marched in great force across the
Border. Queen Katharine called on all the brave
nobles who had been left at home to defend the
country. She did not lead them herself, but put
them under the command of the Earl of Surrey,
and at Flodden Field there was a terrible battle,
in which the Scots were utterly routed, and their
King slain, though it was long before they would
believe that they should never see him again.

10. Henry soon found that the Spanish King
was playing him false, and using the English for
his own ends, not to win back Bordeaux. Henry
was displeased with all his feigned allies, who had
broken their word to him several times, and he
therefore listened when Louis of France begged
for peace. Louis had lately lost his wife, and he now
asked in marriage Henry's beautiful young sister
Mary. The wedding took place, but the bride-
groom was in bad health and the festivities were
too much for him ; he died in 1514, in the sixth
week of his marriage ; and before the young widow
could be fetched home she secretly married an
English gentleman, named Charles Brandon, She
told her brother that she had married once to
please him, now she would please herself. Henry
forgave her, and made Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
King Ferdinand died soon after, and his grandson
Charles succeeded him.

' Break a lance, ixisk^^^x.

i5

REIGN OF HENRY Vtlt.

Persons : Mar;, daughter of Henry VIII.— Maiy, sister to
Henrr VIII.— Ctmrlea Bnndon, Duke of Suffolk- John Colet
— Thomas More- Thomas Wolsey.

Dates: Accession of Henry VIII., 1509— Battles of Spnrs
and Flodden Field, 1513-

[\\OLSE\ S TOWER, A

OF WOLSE\ S PALACE

III. THE BATTLE OF FLODDEN.

From the sharp ridges of the hill.
All downward to the banks of Till.'

' TilL— Jimes IV. had his army posted on a hill called Flodden
Edge. He lost his advantnge by letting Loid Suiiey cross the river
Till unattacked, so as to get between him and Scotland. Then he
charged down the hill. His hoisemea gained some advantage at
first, but Ihcy pursued the English force whom they had defeated too
&r. ^/eanljcie, iheHJgblanders werebiokenbyLordSlanley, who

THE BATTLE OF FLODDEN. 17

Was wreathed in sable smoke.
Volumed^ and vast and rolling far,
The cloud envelop'd Scotland's war,

As down the hill they broke ;
Nor martial shout, nor minstrel tone,
Announced their march ; their tread alone,
At times one warning trumpet blown,
At times a stifled hum.
Told England, from his mountain-throne
King James did rushing come. — •
Scarce can they hear or see their foes,
Until at weapon-point they close. —
They close, in clouds of smoke and dust.
With sword sway, and with lance's thrust ;
And such a yell was there,
Of sudden and portentous^ birth,
As if men fought upon the earth.

And fiends in upper air.
Oh ! life and death were in the shout,
RecoiP and rally,* charge and rout,

And triumph and despair.

Wide raged the battle on the plain ;
Spears shook and falchions* flashed amain ;
Fell England's arrow flight like rain ;

*

then came to the help of the main body of the English, and this
charge decided the victory, though the remnant of the Scots stood
manfully till night closed the scene.
' Volumed, in large rolling clouds.

« Portentous, full of wonder. * Reav^^ ^Nm%\3»s^

* Rally, recovering; and going forwatd. * "FelOoi'aaa^ v^ox^'^
B: IV. B ^^

1 8 REIGN OF HENRY VI I L

Crests rose, and stooped, and rose again.
Far on the left, unseen the while,
Stanley broke Lennox and Argyle,
Though there the western mountaineer
Rushed with bare bosom on the spear,
And flung the feeble targe * aside,
And with both hands the broadsword plied :
'Twas vain : — but fortune, on the right.
With fickle smile cheered Scotland's fight.

Let Stanley charge with spur of fire,
With Chester charge, and Lancashire,
Full upon Scotland's central host,
Or victory and England's lost.

By this, though deep the evening fell,
Still rose the battle's deadly swell,
For still the Scots, around their king.
Unbroken, fought in desperate ring. •
Where's now their victor vanward^ wing,
Where Huntly, and where Home ?
Oh, for a blast of that dread horn,'
On Fontarabian echoes borne.

That to King Charles did come.
When Rowland brave, and Olivier,
And every Paladin and peer.

On Roncesvalles died !

' Targe, shield. « Vanward, forward.

■ Horn. — Alluding to the story of a defeat of the rear of the army
of Charles the Great in the pass of Roncesvalles in the valley of Fon-
tarabia, when a blast of the horn of Couiit "RoYoodvias said to have
^^^fJ heard a great way off.

THE BATTLE OF FLODDEN, 19

Such blast might warn them, not in vain, .
To quit the plunder of the slain,
And turn the doubtful day again,

While yet on Flodden side
Afar, the Royal Standard flies.
And round it toils, and bleeds, and dies.

Our Caledonian pride !

The English shafts in volleys hail'd,
In headlong charge their horse assailed ;
Front, flank, and rear, the squadrons sweep
To break the Scottish circle deep.

That fought around their King.
But yet, though thick the shafts as snow,
Though charging knights like whirlwinds go,
Though bill-men ply the ghastly blow.

Unbroken was the ring ;
The stubborn spearmen still made good
Their dark impenetrable wood.
Each stepping where his comrade stood,

The instant that he fell.
No thought was there of dastard * flight ;
Groom fought like noble, squire like knight,

As fearlessly and well ;
Till utter darkness closed her wing
0*er their thin host and wounded king.
Then skilful Surrey's sage commands
Led back from strife his shattered bands ;

And from the charge they drew,
As mountain-waves, from wasted lands^

Sweep back to ocean blue.

' Dastard, cowaxd.
B 2

20 REIGN OF HENRY VHL

Then did their loss his foemen know ;
Their King, their lords, their mightiest, low,
They melted from the fields as snow,
When streams are swoll'n and south winds
blow.

Dissolves in silent dew.
Tweed's echoes heard the ceaseless plash.

While many a broken band,
Disordered, through her currents dash,

To gain the Scottish land ;
To town and tower, to down and dale,
To tell red Flodden's dismal tale,
And raise the universal wail.
Tradition, legend, tune, and song,
Shall many an age that wail prolong :
Still from the sire the son shall hear
Of the stern strife and carnage drear,

Of Flodden's fatal field.
Where shivered was fair Scotland's spear^

And broken was her shield !

From Scott's Mannion.

IV. THE ROYAL SUPREMACY.

I. The new King of France, Francis I., was a
vain ambitious man, and when the Emperor of Ger-
many died, he endeavoured to get himself chosen in
his place. When Charles, the young King of Spain,
was elected, Francis was greatly at\g^ted,^.tv^l^o^\^^.

HENRY LANDING AT CALAIS. at

/nSNKY lANDlSQ AT CXLX\4.\

22 KEIGN OF HENRY VIIL

to ally himself with Henry VIIL, and begin
again all the old quarrels between France and
Spain.

2. Henry and Francis agreed to have a great
meeting on the plain o( Ardres near Calais in 1520.
Never before were such splendours seen, and the
meeting was called the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The
tents that the nobles and knights slept in were of
velvet and silk, embroidered with gold and silver,
and a sham castle of wood was set up, adorned as
richly as possible, and with halls full of fine carpets,
and hangings of silver and gold. The dresses were so
magnificent that many of the gentlemen were said
to carry a whole year's income on their backs.
There were shows and tournaments,^ and the two
Kings jousted ^ and played and wrestled together
like two boys, but all this show and expense was
in vain, for Henry really cared much more for his
wife's nephew, the Emperor Charles, than for
Francis, and Wolsey thought there was a chance
of Charles's helping him to become Pope.

3. However, the Pope died, and Wolsey was not
chosen in his stead. These were troublous times in the
Church ; for a German monk named Martin Luther
had begun to show the people that much oi their
belief and practice was mistaken. On some points
he was right, oft others in error, but Henry was
greatly displeased with his teaching, and wrote a
book against it. This pleased the Pope so much

'' ToumAmentSf mock fights.
' Jcustedf eng^a^ed in mock fights ou^iox^Oo^k^

EXECUTION OF BUCKINGHAM. 23

that in 1521 he gave the title of Fidei Defensor^
which means 'the Faith's Defender/ to the English
Kings, and they have borne it ever since. The
letters F.D. on the coins stand for Fidei Defensor.

4. The better days of Henry VIII. were nearly
ended. People became uneasy because he had no
son to succeed him, and the Duke of Buckingham,
who was descended from Edward III., was so
foolish as to consult fortune-tellers as to who should
reign next. The King and his Parliament con-
sidered that this proved Buckingham to be intending
to try to gain the crown. The diike was accordingly
tried, and put to death, but there were many per-
sons who thought that the real cause of his fall
was that Wolsey was jealous of him, and the Em-
peror Charles said that the butcher's dog had
pulled down the finest stag in England.

5, Still there was great anxiety that the King
should have a son, and a notion arose that it might
be possible to set aside poor Queen Katharine, and
let him marry again. No one knows whether the
suggestion came from the King himself, or from
Cardinal Wolsey, or from a French Ambassador
who hinted that he did not think Henry's marriage
a true and right one. If Katharine had been really
Arthur's wife, there was no doubt that she could
not properly be Henry's, but as both she and Arthur
had been mere children at the time of his death, it
had always been thought that the Po^^*^ ^J&s^^'^-
sation had powtr to set her free ttoxcv \vex ^xovscw^^

to the Prince,

24 REIGN OF HENRY VII L

V. THE ROYAL SUPREMACY (canHnuei).

1. WOLSEY had been willing to break the mar-
riage at first, when he hoped the King would many
some great princess, cruel as this would have been
to poor Katharine ; but when he found that Henry-
had set his heart on marrying an English lady,
named Anne Boleyn, who was only a knight's
daughter, though niece to the Duke of Norfolk, he
saw that only mischief could come of the scheme,
and that Henry would certainly offend everybody
and disgrace himself Besides, when the Pope sent
another Legate * to England to inquire into the
matter, Katharine pleaded her cause most wisely
and touchingly, and Wolsey saw that hers was a
true marriage and ought to stand.

2. The King, however, was headstrong, and
resolved to have his own way. He insisted on the
Pope declaring his marriage void. When the Pope
delayed, partly to look into the question and partly
because he feared to offend either Henry or the Em-
peror, Henry let himself be persuaded that it was
the fault of Cardinal Wolsey. Either Anne Boleyn
or Wolsey's secretary, Thomas Cromwell, put this
notion into the King's mind, or else they worked
together and turned Henry's mind against his old
servant. First Wolsey was deprived of the chancel-
lorship, and sent from Court ; then it was declared
that by acting as the Pope's Legate he had been

^Uty of treason against the King, and he was made
'' JLe^ate, an embassador from the Pope. (^See ^^^^ 1*^.^

FALL OF WOLSEY.

iWOtSSV' AT LRICESTEB. ABWI-I.^

26 REIGN OF HENRY VI 11.

prisoner in Yorkshire. As he was being brought to
London for trial he became so ill that he had to
stop at an abbey at Leicester. When the abbot came
out to meet him, the once great Cardinal said, * You
see a poor old man who is come to lay his bones
among you.* A few days later he died, in 1 5 30, say-
ing, * Had I but sensed 7ny God as I have served my
Ktngy He would not have forsaken me in my old age'
He left all his property to the King, begging that the
noble college of Christchurch, which he bad founded
at Oxford, might be allowed to remain as he left it.

3. Sir Thomas More was the new Lord Chancellor,
but the King chiefly attended to the advice of Thomas
Cromwell, and to a learned priest named Thomas
Cranmer. Cranmer said that if the Pope would give
no answer concerning the marriage, Henry might
ask the learned doctors in all universities in Europe
whether a man could lawfully marry his brother's
widow. The King declared, in his rough way, * the
man has the right sow by the ear ; ' but the doctors,
like the Pope, knew very well that the whole ques-
tion depended on whether Katharine were really his
brother's widow.

4. Henry now, by Cromwell's advice, declared
that the Pope had no right to meddle at all, and
that he himself was the only head of the English
Church ; he stopped all payments to Rome, and
entirely broke with the Pope in 1531. The clergy
and people mostly did as he pleased ; they joined

A/w In declaring his first marriage void, and, on
tA^Ir authority and his own, he decVat^d XJcvaX. ^oox

BIRTH OF THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 27

Katharine was no wife of his, and sent her away
to Kimbolton Castle, where she died after a long
lingering illness in 1536.

S. Long before her death Henry had been mar-
ried to Anne Boleyn, and they had had a daughter,
who was named Eliz&beth. On the death of
Archbishop W reham Cranmer had been made

[old

Archbishop of Canterbury. He confirmed the
marriage, and indeed few of the clergy made any
open objection to Henry's proceedings. Only,
when he required an oath to be taken that he was
head of the English Church, Dr. Fisher, Bishs? dt
Bvohettor, re/bsed, and so did Sit TVomas "^Vot*^,
because they felt such an oath to be a^^iivs't 'Cosw

28 REIGN OF HENRY VI I L

creed. They were both thrown into the Tower,
and Fisher, an old man of eighty, was kept in want
of warm clothing and food. He was found guilty
of treason and beheaded.

6. All Henry's friendship for Sir Thomas
More was forgotten in his anger that anyone should
withstand his will, and this brave and good man was
likewise beheaded. He was cheerful to the last ; and
his brave daughter Margaret made her way through
the guards to comfort and embrace him. His head
was set up on London Bridge, but she came at
night in a boat and took it away. When she died
she was buried with the beloved head in her arms.

Persons: Henry VIII.— Francis I. of France— Charles of
Spain— Martin Luther— Thomas Cromwell— Thomas Cran-
mer— Anne Boleyn— Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII. —
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester.

Dates: 'Field of the Cloth of Gold,' 1520— Henry declared
himself Supreme Head of the English Church, 1531.

VI. THE FALL OF WOLSEY.

[Events are here thrown together, and Thomas Cromwell is repre-
sented as more faithful to his master than he has since been proved
to have been.]

Wolsey. What news abroad }
Cromwell, The heaviest and the worst

Is your displeasure with the king.

Wolsey, God bless him !

Cromwell, The next is, that Sir Thomas More
IS chosen
Lord chancellor in your place.

THE FALL OF WOLSEY. 29

Wolsey. That's somewhat sudden :

But he's a learned man. May he continue
Long in his highness' favour, and do justice
For truth's sake and his conscience ; that his bones,
When he has run his course and sleeps in blessings.
May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on ' em !
What more ?

Cromwell. That Cranmer is return'd with wel-
come,
Install'd lord archbishop of Canterbury.

Wolsey, That's news indeed.

Cromwell. Last, that the lady Anne,

Whom the king hath in secrecy long married,
This day was view'd in open as his queen.
Going to chapel ; and the voice is now
Only about her coronation.

Wolsey, There was the weight that pull'd me
down. O Cromwell,
The king has gone beyond me : all my glories
In that one woman I have lost for ever :
No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours,
Or gild again the noble troops that waited
Upon my smiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell ;
I am a poor fall'n man, unworthy now
To be thy lord and master : Seek the king ;
That sun, I pray, may never set ! I have told him
.What and how true thou art : he will advance

thee ;
Some little memory of me will stir him —
I know his noble nature — not to \et
Thy hopeful service perish too : Good Cxotcwe^.^

50 REIGN OF HENRY VI IL

Neglect him not ; make use now, and provide
For thine own future safety.

Cromwell, O my lord,

Must I, then, leave you ? Must I needs forego
So good, so noble, and so true a master ?
Bear witness all, that have not hearts of iron,
With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord.
The king shall have my service ; but my prayers
For ever and for ever shall be yours.

Wolsey. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a
tear
In all my miseries ; but thou hast forced me.
Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.
Let's dry our eyes : and thus far hear me, Cromwell ;
And, when I am forgotten, as I shall be.
And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of, say, I taught thee.
Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour.
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in ;
A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition :
By that sin fell the angels ; how can man, then.
The image of his Maker, hope to win by it }
Love thyself last : cherish those hearts that hate

thee ;
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not :
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be t\vy co\m\xy ^»

DESTRUCTION OF THE MONASTERIES, 3!

Thy God's, and truth's ; then if thou falFst,

O Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr! Serve the king ;
And, — Pr'ythee, lead me in :
There take an inventory^ of all I have,
To the last penny ; His the king's : my robe,
And my integrity ^ to heaven, is all
I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Croniwell !
Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

Shakespeare's King Henry VI I L

VII. DESTRUCTION OF THE
MONASTERIES.

I. When Wolsey had become the Pope's
Legate, he had intended to look into th^ affairs of the
monasteries, for many had fallen into a bad state.
Since Henry VIII. had taken to himself the autho-
rity of the Pope in England, he undertook to do
this work by his own power, and not by that of the
Pope. Thomas Cromwell was appointed to visit
the smaller houses. Much disorder was found in
some of these, and in others it was discovered that
the monks deceived the people by showing them
relics, that is, remains of saints* bodies or of their
clothing, which were supposed to work miraculous

' Inventory^ a list, « Inte^tu> xx^rvi^Vxvessu

32 REIGN OF HENRY VIH.

cures. In 1536, Henry and his Parliament broke
up more than five hundred of these lesser houses,
and sent their monks and nuns to the larger ones,
saying that their lands and rents should be used to
found schools and colleges.

[kever castle, once the residence of anne boleyk.]

2. This same year some dreadful accusations
were brought against Anne Boleyn, and she was
at once sent to the Tower, where she was beheaded.
The King's love had already passed away from her
to one of her iadies named Jane Seymour, whom

THE SIX ARTICLES. 33

he married on the very day after poor Anne*s exe-
cution. At the end of a year, Jane had a son, who
was named Edward. She caught cold on the day
of the christening, and died in 1537.

3. Thomas Cromwell led the King as far as he
could to make changes, and so did Archbishop
Cranmer. The Litany was translated into English,
and a translation of the Bible was also made. In
some churches the Lessons were read in English
from this Bible, and the people were so eager to
listen to it, that they used to throng into the
churches, and sit there while any person who could
read went on for hours, sometimes reading, some-
times expounding.

4. Henry feared that these preachings would
lead people away from that faith which he still
held in spite of his quarrel with the Pope. So he
put forth Six Articles, diccovding to what he himself
held, and any person who disputed them was liable
to the horrible old punishment of being burnt for
heresy. Therefore they were called i/ie whip with
six lashes,

5. The King had found it much more convenient
to keep the property of the lesser convents than to
use it for good works. Some he had given or sold to
his nobles, and from the lesser houses he now went on
to attack the great old abbeys. They were mostly
in good order, and very little evil could be traced
to them, but the King and Cromwell wanted their
lands, so they were all suppressed^ atvd^Jcv^vc^^•a^JCa

' Suppressed, put down, done awa.\ V\V\v.
//. IV. ^

34 REIGN OF HENRY VI 11.

was seized. Some of the abbots and monks who
were caught trying to hide church plate, or money,
were put to death as traitors. The country people
rushed in and seized on all they could get, so that
for years after, if a fine bit of embroidery or a
velvet cushion were seen in a farm-house, it was
almost sure to have been stolen from the chapel
of an abbey.

6. The buildings and lands were sometimes
sold, sometimes granted to the nobles, sometimes
even lost to them at dice. Pensions were granted
to the elder monks and nuns, and they were
ordered to go to their homes, the younger ones
were to go back to common life. Six new bishop-
rics were endowed out of the wealth of the abbeys,
but most of the money was seized by the greedy
King and his lords.

7. Cromwell was very anxious that his master
should be connected with some of the foreign princes
who had broken with the Pope. So he showed
Henry a beautiful portrait of Anne, the sister of
the Duke of Cleves. She was betrothed * to Henry,
and brought to England, but she turned out to be
a tall clumsy woman marked with the small-pox.
Henry was much annoyed when he saw her, and
though he let himself be married to her, he soon
found an excuse for putting her away. This mis-
adventure caused Cromwell to lose the king's
favour. The Diike of Norfolk accused him of high

treason, and in the year 1 540 lae vjas beheaded*

' Betrothed, promised in maina^e.

QUEEN KATHARINE PARR. 35

8. Henry had fallen in love with Katharine
Howard^ the niece of the Duke of Norfolk, and thus
cousin to Anne Boleyn. She was fair and gentle,
but she had been in bad hands when a young girl,
and had fallen into sin, which her cruel tempters
kept secret till she was a queen, and then revealed.
She was forced to confess that all was true, and the
King not only cast her from him, but had her
beheaded in 1542.

9. Still the King wished for another wife, but
one foreign lady to whom he proposed made
answer that she could not venture, as she had but
one neck. So his sixth wife was another English
lady, Katharine Parr, who nursed him tenderly in
his declining health, while his temper became
more fierce and jealous, for he feared to die, and
thus leave his young son to be fought over by
ambitious men.

10. The King of France, Francis I., had begun
another war, and persuaded James V. of Scotland
to join in it. James tried to invade England, but
his troops were overthrown on the Solway Moss,
and he died soon after, leaving a baby daughter of
a few days old, named Mary, to be Queen of Scot-
land, in 1542.

11. Henry had an ulcer in his leg, which sud-
denly grew worse, and he died in 1547. He had
been a man of great promise in his youth, and he
was never hated in spite of his matvy ctw^ ^.c\.^.
These seem to have come chiefly becsius^ \v^ ^^^

determined to do his own will, and tVvat SS \V >Nex^

c 2

36 REIGN OF HENRY VIIL

against the law, the law and all men should come
round to it.

Persons: Jane Sejrmour— Anne of Cleves— Katharine
Howard— Katharine Parr— Prince Edward.

Dates: Dissolution of Monasteries commenced, 1536—
Battle of Solway Moss, 1542— Death of Henry VIIL, 1547.

VIIL THE LADY IN THE TOWER.

(Lines written after seeing a mound in Richmond Park, where
Henry VIIL is said to have watched for a flag hung out from the
Tower, to announce Anne Boleyn's execution.)

On the dark Tower bright shone the morning sun
That told the night was past, the day begun;
The lady thought on what she once had been,
A captive now, where once she reigned a queen.
The hour was come and high the scaffold stood,
The axe was ready for its work of blood.
And many stood around, too proud to own
They once had trembled at that lady's frown ;
. And some few faithful damsels lingered nigh
To see their guiltless, much loved lady die.
The cold steel shone. Tis past — the gleam is gone.
The fatal stroke was struck, the deed was done.
And that bright head that'once had worn a crown,
Ghastly, yet red with gore, came rolling down.

The fawns were sporting in the bracken wild,
And on the ancient oaks the sunlight smiled ;
Through the gtttn \xtit^ arose the smoke wreaths
then

THE LADY IN THE TOWER. 37

That told of many a cot that slept within ;
And the broad river nobly lay below,
So still and calm you scarce might see it flow.
No trace of human guilt or misery there,
But all was still and dewy, calm and fair.
There was one man upon a high green mound ;
Oh ! did he gaze upon the scenes around ?
He was a monarch, did he linger there
To taste the sweetness of the summer air ?

One distant spot, one spot, and only one.
With eyeball fixed, that monarch gazed upon ;
There, where in one thick cloud the smoke-wreath

rose,
Stood England's pride, the envy of her foes.
In chequered * mass beneath that spot of sky
Dwelt guilt and virtue, wealth and poverty ;
But not the meanest of the lawless crew.
Lurking till night his evil work to do,
Bare heart more ruthless or more steel'd to crime
Than that proud monarch of this western clime.
Lo, on the smoky cloud, a floating thing !
Oh ! what a world of tidings did it bring !
Yea, fair and spotless was each waving fold,
But what a mockery of the tale it told ;
Then a strange rapture on the monarch came.
Flashed in his eye and trembled in his frame !
He scarce supprest a wild exulting yell
At her sad fate, whom once he loved so well,

' Chequered, intermjuigled, like t\xe \Aa.cV Mie^ ^wVixt 'anjissjek
on a chess'boaxd.

38 REIGN OF EDWARD VI,

IX. EDWARD VI.

I. The young King Edward VI. was nine years
old when he succeeded his father in 1 547. He was
a fair, quiet, studious boy, brought up under
careful tutors, and was alread)'' learned in Latin,
Greek, and several other languages. His father had
appointed a Council of twenty-eight persons to
manage his affairs, and had given the keeping of
the boy himself into the hands of his uncle, Edward
Sejrmour, who was brother to Queen Jane Seymour,
and had been made Earl of Hertford. Seymour, who
was a proud vain man, was not contented with this
post, but by giving lands and honours to the rest of
the Council, he persuaded them to name him Lord
Protector^ giving him all the power, and he caused
his young nephew to create him Dnke of Somerset

2. Proposals were made to marry the young
Edward to the little Queen Mary of Scotland, so
as to join the two kingdoms, and to let the two
children be brought up together; but the Scots
hated the English too much to consent. Thereupon
Somerset led an army into Scotland, and a great
battle was fought near Edinburgh, at Pinkie, in which
the Scots were routed ; but the Protector was called
home by hearing that his brother Thomas was
plotting against him, and as soon as he was gone, the
Scots sent their little Queen away to France, to be
warned to the King*s eldest son.

EXECUTION OF THOMAS SEYMOUR. 39

3. Ibonuu SflTmonr had married the late
King's widow, Queen Katharine Parr ; and when,
in less than a year, she died, he wanted to marry
her step-daughter, Elizabeth. He was a vain am-
bitious man, who lent money Jn secret to the young
King, and tried to set him a;jainst his elder uncle.

[old somerset house.

His plans were found out, and the Duke of Somer-
set, though his brother, had no pity for him, but
caused him to be beheaded in iS49-

4, Somerset cared greatly for show and splen-
dour and had a household that mig\A \v^-Me, s,m\R,&.
a king. He built himself a spVeiidid a^io^*; ^'»-

AO REIGN OF EDWARD VL

London, and called it after his own title, Somerset
House. The gardens lay along the bank of the
. Thames, and three churches, besides the remains
of old monasteries, were thrown down to make room
for them. His dachess was thought to be the
proudest woman in England, and all the old nobles,
who considered the Seymours as mere upstarts, were
much offended.

5. Somerset was at the same time very earnest
to carry on that Reformation of the Church which
had been checked by Cromwell's disgrace. Arch-
bishop Cranmer agreed with him, and the little
King was taught to think the same. The Six
Articles were repealed, and the services of the
Church were translated into English. On the
Whitsunday of 1549, a most suitable day, in all
the churches of England, the worship of God was
carried on in our own tongue, and the Lessons
were read from the English Bible.

6. The relics of saints, which had been thought
to do wonderful cures, were cleared away, and
images of our Blessed Lord, His Mother and the
saints, to which the people had come to give an
idolatrous worship, were broken down. Those of
the bishops who would not consent to these doings
were deprived of their sees, and others placed in their
stead. There was great anger at this in some places,
and disturbances arose, partly because of these
changes, and partly because some of the nobles had

been breaking i?p their farms, atvd twYtvitv^ out the
people, in order to have more room ^ot ^^^^vcv^

CHANGES IN THE PRAYER-BOOK. 41

sheep. These insurrections were put down, and the
ringleaders were hanged.

X. EDWARD VI. {continued).

1. Though some persons grieved for the old
Latin forms and the customs of the Church of Rome,
and thought all these changes grievously wrong,
there were others who thought that the Church of
England ought to be much more entirely reformed.
Archbishop Cranmer and Somerset asked the ad-
vice of some Swiss and German Reformers who did
not care about the old customs of the Church at all,
but thought nothing lawful that was not expressly
ordered in the Bible. Their advice was followed,
and the first Prayer-Book was altered, though not
so much as they would have wished. This second
Prayer-Book of Edward VI. is very nearly the same
as that which is still used ; though some parts which
these strangers took away have been since restored.

2. Somerset's pride caused him to be so much
hated by the nobles that another of the Council,
John Dudley, the son of the wicked judge, obtained
support in scheming against him. An accusation
was drawn up, accusing him of bad government,
and he found himself obliged to resign the pro-
tectorship. Dudley became the chief man in the
kingdom, and, being already Earl of Warwick,
obtained from the King the -title of Duke of
Northmnberiand. After a few motv'Ocv?* ^otcv^x'^RX
was accused of a plot to regain power, ^wdVomxxx^^x

43 REIGN OF EDWARD VI.

the Duke of Northumberland. On this he was
tried, sentenced, and beheaded early in 1552.

3. During that same spring of 1552 young Ed-
ward had smallpox and measles, and the effectshung
about him so that his strength decayed fast Now,
if his sisters Mary and Elizabeth had been .bom of
unlawful marriafjcs, they could have no right to the

[DURHAM HOUSE, WHERE LADY JANE WAS MARRIED.]

Crown, although their father in his will had made
them his heiresses after Edward. Mary was now a
middle-aged woman. She had always lived apart,
hated the changes inthe Church, and would neveruse
the English Prayer-Book. Elizabeth had gone along
with her brother's changes, but Mary could not be
set aside if she were to be put forward. The next
Jia'ress was Mary, Queen of Scots, -wVose ^^mv^-

LADY JANE GREY, 43

mother, Margaret, had been the eldest daughter of
Henry VII., but she was in France, betrothed to the
King's son, and bred up in the doctrines of Rome.

4. The younger daughter of Henry VII. had
married the Duke of Suffolk. Their eldest grand-
daughter, Lady Jane Grey, was a very learned and
thoughtful girl of fifteen ; and the Duke of Northum-
berland obtained her . from her father in marriage
for his son. Lord Onildford Dudley, who was two
years older. Then Northumberland persuaded the
King that the only way to secure that England
should not be restored to the Pope, and all the old
superstitions revived, would be to pass over the
two Princesses and the Scottish Queen, and to
leave the Crown to the Lady Jane.

5, Edward agreed with him, and made a will by
which Jane was to be the next sovereign. Arch-
bishop Cranmer did not believe that any king had
a right to dispose of his kingdom ; but the dying
boy implored him to consent to this will for the sake
of religion, and he yielded to these entreaties.
Edward died soon after, on the 6th of July, 1553,
aged sixteen. He had always been devout and
earnest, and very studious, and he was much la-
mented, and people called him the Youthful Saint,

Persons: Edward VI.— Edward Scjrmour, Duke of Somer-
set—Thomas Seymour— Mary, Queen of Scots— John Dudley,
Duke of Northumberland— Lady Jane Grey— Lord Guildford
Dudley.

Dates: Accession of Edward VL and Battle of Pinkie,
1547— First Prayer-Book of Edward "VI. Vatto^>aK:^^^ "v^i^S—
Death of Edward VL, 1553.

44 QUEEN JANE.

XI. LADY JANE GREY.

1. The Duke of Northumberland had kept the
sisters of Edward VI. ignorant that their brother
was so near death, in order that he might be before-
hand with them. As soon as Edward was dead,
he and all his friends went to Lady Jane, told her
that she was Queen, and did homage to her. The
poor young lady, who was not yet sixteen, was so
much terrified that she fainted away, and implored
them not to lay this thing upon her, but they told
her they were acting for the sake of the Gospel and
of the true faith, and threatened to ill-use her if she
still refused. So she yielded, and Queen Jane was
proclaimed in London, but the people showed no
signs of gladness or welcome, for they did not love
either Northumberland, or the Duke of Suffolk,
Jane's father.

2. Meantime a deceitful message had been sent
to each of the two Princesses, that their brother was
dying and wished to see them. Elizabeth did not
trust these tidings, and would not come, guessing that
Northumberland only wished to take them pri-
soners ; but Mary had actually set out from her
house in Norfolk, when her goldsmith brought her
the news that her young brother was dead. She
set up her standard and caused herself to be pro-
claimed Queen. All the people, rich and poor,
flocked to her. Northumberland marched with some

hired soldiers as far as Cambridge \.o mee\.\v^t, W\.

ACCESSION OF MARY I.

45

no one joined him, and when he saw there was no
hope, he caused ftneen Kary to be proclaimed in the
market place, and was the first to throw up his cap,
though with the tears running down his face. Mary
was proclaimed in London at the same time, and

[the towek.]

all the citizens showed the greatest joy. and
received her with the warmest welcome, when she
and her sister Elizabeth rode through the streets .
tc^ether.

3. She went straight to the lOTi«t,^V\Ot\'«^-i.

46 REIGN OF MARY I.

a palace as well as a prison. All the State pri-
soners were drawn up on the green square of turf
within, and knelt to receive her. Some of them
were her mother's old friends, and she went from
one to the other raising them, and comforting them.
The only ones that she left in prison were those
concerned in the attempt on behalf of the Lady
Jane. The Duke of Northumberland was tried,
condemned and executed, but Jane and her husband
remained unhurt in the Tower, and were allowed
to walk about in the gardens, and live as if in a
house of their own.

4. Mary was thirty-seven years old, and her
life had long been sad and lonely. She had
grieved at all the changes in the Church, and thought
that Somerset had no right to make them, while
her brother was still too young to judge for him-
self ; and she felt it wrong to call herself head of
the Church, wishing for nothing so much as to
reconcile herself and her kingdom to Rome and to
bring back the old state of things.

5. She had been prevented from making friends
in England, and she trusted no one so much as her
mother's Spanish relations, and her own cousin.
Cardinal Pole, who had fled beyond seas to save
himself from the tyranny of-Henry VIII.

6. Mary's first thought was to bring home
Cardinal Pole, and her next, to get her Spanish
cousins to help her to bring her kingdom
back under the power of Rome. The Emperor

Charles V. proposed to her to marry Vv\s» soxv'CYsax^^

WYATrS INSURRECTION. 4,7

who would be King of Spain, and though he was
fourteen years younger than herself, Mary eagerly
consented.

7. All her best advisers thought this would be
a very unfortunate marriage for her and for England,
for the Spaniards were known to be harsh and cruel,
and terrible persecutors of all whose religion they
thought unsound. Cardinal Pole was so much
against the marriage that the Emperor had him
seized on his way to England, and shut up in a
convent, lest he should persuade Mary out of it.

8. In England, Sir Thomas Wyatt, a gentleman
who had been in Spain, had such a horror of the
proposed wedding that he led a large number of
people from Kent and Essex to attack London ;
the Duke of Suffolk also called up his tenants,
and Jane was again proclaimed by them, but
most of the English still held by Queen Mary, and
all these insurrections were put down, and their
leaders were executed.

9. Poor Jane and her husband had been in the
Tower all the time, and were quite guiltless of the
rebellion, but Mary thought there would be no
safety for the throne while they were alive. There-
fore she consented to their being beheaded as traitors.
Jane showed the most beautiful piety and resolution.
She talked with the Queen's chaplain, who had tried
to bring her* to the faith of Rome, but nothing
could shake her in her attachment to what she had
learnt from her Bible. She wrote a\e\X.^t ol ^'ax^^H^^

In Greek to her sister Katharine -itv tVvebXaxC^ V.-aN^^

48 REIGN OF MARY I.

of her Greek Testament, but she would not meet her
young husband, fearing perhaps to lose her calmness.
She only saw him walk past her window on his way
to die on Tower Hill, and she wrote on a tablet in
Latin ' Man's justice destroys his body, God's mercy
preserves his soul.' She then, in perfect peace and
hope, was led out, and in her turn duly laid her
fair and wise head on the block, in her seven-
teenth year, in 1554, full of faith and resignation.

■-■ r:, ^..

Persmii ■ Lady Jane Grey— Duke of Nerthamberkad— The
Duke of Suffolk— Queen Mary— The Princess Elizabeth-
Cardinal Pole—Philip of Spun— Sir Thomu Wyatt

JTe/es: Accesaon of Queen tKiLt^, issi-EKecatiai of

CHANGES, 49

XII. QUEEN MARY I.

1. Philip of Spain arrived soon after Lady-
Jane's execution, and was married to Mary in Win-
chester Cathedral by Stephen Gardiner, who had
been set aside by Edward's Council from his bishop-
ric but was now restored by Mary. None of the
Bishops, who had been put into sees whose holders
were alive, were accepted by her, and those who
had not fled were imprisoned. There were commands
to return to the Latin Mass ^ ever3rwhere, and that
priests who had married should renounce their
wives.

2. Reginald Pole was released by the Emperor
and, coming to England, with the Pope's authority
as legate, reconciled the country to Rome, and the
day on which this was done, was probably the hap-
piest in Mary's sad life, for she believed herself to
be doing her duty and undoing what she thought
to be the wrong done by her father. She wished to
give back all the wealth that had been taken from
the monasteries, but the nobles would not hear of
giving up what they held, and she was advised not
to try to compel them to do so.

3. It is to be feared that most of the people in
the country neither understood nor cared much
about religious matters, since they had made little
objection to change about just as the Kirv^ ^x\si
Queen and Parliament decided •, bwt V>cvex^ ^^x^

' Mass, ehiTcelcbration of the "Loud's Svl^^^i*

so REIGN OF MARY L

some who were much more resolute in their faith. Dr.
Hooper, who had been made Bishop of Gloucester,
was one of these. He was one who had held with
the foreign Reformers, and hated all forms and
ceremonies. He so openly declared his faith that
he was found guilty of heresy, and according to the
terrible punishment that had been decreed for the
Lollards, was burnt in the market place at Gloucester
in 1555. Several clergymen were also sentenced
and burnt, but so far from making the others less
resolute, it only made them more staunch and firm.

4. At Oxford were imprisoned ArchbishopCran-
mer, together with Bidley, who under Edward VI.
had been Bishop of London instead of Edmund
Bonner, and Hugh Latimer, a very old man, who had
resigned his see of Worcester because of his great age.
He was a great preacher of sermons full of sharp
sayings and anecdotes, and young King Edward had
often listened to him. All these three had supported
Lady Jane, and had been first arrested on that ac-
count; but they were closely examined on their faith.
Their doctrine was declared to be false, and the
sentence of death by fire was pronounced on Ridley
and Latimer, but as Cranmer was an Archbishop,
his judgment was referred to Rome.

5. Ridley was a very learned and excellent man,
Latimer both brave and pious. They were led out
to die together, and chained back to back to the
same stake. * Be of good comfort, Master Ridley,*

cried Latimer * and play the man. VVe shall this
day, by God's grace, light sucYi a catvd\^ vxv^w^^wei.

THE PERSECUTION.

as I trust shall never be put out.' He died quickly,
but Ridley's sufferings were long and terrible, though

they y/ere borne with great constancy, -vitAA. ^^V'aaV
A» corpse fell over the chjdns sX 'La.^Vniw'a It^"^-

C2 REIGN OF MARY L

6. Their friend Cranmer could see the whole
from the roof of his prison. He was not a man
of strong character, and he let himself be persuaded
to save his life by submitting to the Pope and the
Queen, by false promises that if he would do so his
life should be spared. Mary considered him to be
beyond forgiveness, and was resolved not to forgive
him. The Spanish clergy knew this, but they did
not tell Cranmer, but persuaded him to draw up
six papers in one day, and sign them, denying what
he had hitherto taught. Then he was brought into
St. Mary's Church at Oxford, and there he found
that he was still to die ; his disgraceful act had been
of no avail. His tears fell fast at finding himself
thus cruelly deceived, and he spoke out fully, de-
claring his true faith, and, holding up his right hand
which had signed the deed, he said that it should
perish first. So when the fire was lighted at the
stake, he stretched out that arm to the flame crying
'This unworthy hand.*

7. Cardinal Pole became Archbishop. He was
naturally a mild, gentle man, but he knew he had
enemies at Rome who accused him of being inclined
to the new opinions, and thus he was afraid to hin-
der persecution. Bishop Gardiner had died shortly
before the burnings at Oxford, and thenceforward
to the end of the reign, took place a terrible number
of these executions, chiefly at Smithfield and Can-
terbury. Bishop Bonner of London came to be

looked on with more and more dread axvd hatred^
because he so often sat in judgment on vVv^ \\c?C\m?»,

LOSS OF CALAIS. 53

and the men and women who were burnt shewed
such faith and constancy as befitted martyrs for
the truth.

8. In the meantime, Mary was a miserable wo-
man. She was disappointed that she had no child, her
health gave way, her husband did not love her, and
she knew that her people's affection had turned to
fear and hatred, so that they only longed to see her
sister on the throne. Elizabeth had been sent to
the Tower at the time of Wyatt*s rebellion, but as
nothing could be proved against her, she was sent
to her own house in the country, and afterwards
was forgiven, and allowed to be at court again.

9. Philip much grieved Mary by leaving her
when his father gave up the kingdom of Spain
to him. Soon he had a quarrel with France,
and making a short visit to England, he per-
suaded Mary to join in the war. Her English
troops helped him to win a great battle at St.
Quentin, but soon after, in the year 1558, the French
made a sudden attack upon Calais, and seized it,
after it had been held by the English for 213 years.
It was so great a grief to Mary that she declared
that when she died, the name of Calais would be
found written on her heart.

ID. She was languishing, and broken down with
care and grief. What she had thought good and
pious acts had only led to horrid cruelty, and turned
herj)eople*s hearts against the Church she loved, and
against her. Her husband wo\i\d tvo\. ^V^^ ^X"^
ber, her old friends were dying touTid \iet^ ^xA ^^

54 REIGN OF ELIZABETH,

would soon have no one to trust. She and Cardinal
Pole both became much worse in health about the
same time. The Queen died first, November 17th,
1558, the Cardinal twenty-two hours later, and eight
more of her Bishops died about the same time.
About 300 persons had been burnt during the last
thii'ce of the five years of this reign.

Persons: Mary I. — Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester-r-
Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester— Ridley, Bishop of London —
Bonner, Bishop of London— Latimer, once Bishopof Worces-
ter— Archbishop Cranmer— Philip of Spain.

Places : Oxford — Smithfield— Canterbury — Calais.

Dates: Persecution of the Reformers, 1555— Death of
Mary, 1558.

XIII. ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH.

1. Great was the joy of the English nation
when Mary was carried to her grave in 1558, and
Elizabeth was proclaimed as Queen. , Everyone
rejoiced to be free from the gloomy Spanish King
Philip II. and from the terrible persecution. Marj^,
in her mistaken zeal, had made the people of
England think of her Church and its doctrines with
hatred and terror, and there were only a very few
who still held that Elizabeth's rights to the throne
were not really good, and who thought the true
heiress was Mary of Scotland.

2. Elizabeth was twenty-seven years old, not
taW, but very dignified and stately. She had

studied and thought much, and wa^ ve^^ ^t>\4s:wt

LORDS BURLEIGH AND LEICESTER. 55

■■I

and cautious, but she was ready of speech, witty
and lively, and sJie had the same hearty kindly man-
ner as her father, so that she gained the hearts of all
those who saw her, rich and poor alik«, for they
knew that she really loved them, and wished to be
the mother of her people.

3. Sir William Cecil, who had been one of
the state ministers through the last two reigns,
was her chief adviser, and after a time she
gave him the title of Lord Burleigh. The com-
panion she liked best was Lord Robert Dudley,
a brother of poor Lady Jane's husband. He is best
known as Earl of Leicester, the title that she gave
him after a few years. He was not a good man,
and he was even suspected of having murdered his
wife, in hopes of marrying the Queen. She would
never believe anything against him ; but she knew
her people would never endure her marrying Robin
Dudley as they called him. Many foreign princes
courted her at different times in her reign, but
though she doubted long, and let herself be
flattered by them, she made up her mind to be
a virgin Queen, and to have, as she said, no husband
but her people.

4. She began at once to have the English Prayer-
Book used again, and as there were eight Bishops'
sees to be filled up, besides the Archbishopric of
Canterbury, she chose men to fill them who would
be willing to support the English Church.

5. Many persons who had fVediot^^^x 0.1 "^"^ct^J^
persecution came back from \\v\tv^ m ?i\N\\.'L^'^'2>xN^

56 REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

and Germany. The foreign Reformers had cast oflf
much more of the old ways of the* Church than the
English had done, fancying that whatever the
Roman Catholics had done must be wrong. Dread
and hatred of Queen Mary's persecutions made
some of the other English think so too. They
wanted to lay aside all forms and rules of worship
and would have done so but for Archbishop Parker
and the Queen. Some of the Reformers in Germany
were called Protestants, and this name has come to
be given to all who protest against the errors of
Rome, while the English who wanted to alter their
Church still more came in time to be called Puritans.

6. It was an anxious thought for all the English
that the very next heir to the Crown after Queen
Elizabeth was the young Mary, ftneen of Scotland
and France, who had been bred up a Roman
Catholic. The French King, her husband, died when
she was only eighteen, and she came back a widow
to Scotland in 1560. She was so beautiful and
engaging that it seemed as if no one could with-
stand her, but fearful troubles were before her.

7. The Scots had, in her absence, become great
Reformers. They had turned out all the monks
and nuns, and the nobles had seized the lands.
They had destroyed all they thought superstitious
in the churches, and set themselves against all forms
and ceremonies, and when their Queen arrived,
they would hardly endure to let her hear Mass in
her own chapel among her own servants.

8. Queen Mary married a youtVv xvam^di W^tcrj

AfARV QUEEN OF SCOTS, 57

Stewart, Lord Damley, who was cousin both to her
and to Elizabeth. It was a very unhappy marriage,
for he was a foolish, jealous, headstrong lad, who
could not forgive his wife for not making him King
though he was her husband. They had one child,
James, who was about six months old ; when one
night while Mary was at a ball, the house at
Edinburgh where Henry Stewart was, was blown up
with gunpowder, and he himself was found strangled
under a tree. Nobody knows to this day whether
Queen Mary consented to his death.

9. Her subjects believed she had done so, and
their belief was strengthened when one of the
murderers, the Earl of Bothwell, carried her off to
his Castle, and persuaded her to marry him. The
Scots rose against her, took her prisoner, and while
her husband fled away, she was shut up in a strong
castle on an island in a lake called Lochleven^ while
her little son James was made King.

10. After nearly a year, Mary escaped from her
prison, but she could find no shelter in Scotland
and rode across the Border to England. Queen
Elizabeth did not venture to have her at Court, nor
to let her go abroad, for fear the Kings of Spain
and France should set her up as Queen of England
and invade the country. So Mary was kept first
in one castle, then in another, under charge of dif-
ferent noblemen, and her life grew more and more
sad, as less liberty was left to her.

Persons: Queen Elizabeth— Lord B\xr\e\^\i— TVife '^as\ ^\
Lekester—Arcbbishop Parker— The Puntaosk— ^«n>Q^^^

58 REIGN OF ELIZABETH,

of Scots— Her son, James— Lord Damley— The Earl' of
t BothwelL

Places: Edinburgh— Lochleven.
Date: Accession of Elizabeth, 1558.

XIV. THE DAYS OF GOOD QUEEN

BESS.

1. Every year tended to make Queen Elizabeth
more looked uf)on as the head and guardian of
all the Protestants in Europe, although she was
too cautious to do much to help them. Philip II.,
v/ho had been husband to her sister Mary, was in
like manner regarded as the chief protector and
leader of the Roman Catholics everywhere.

2. For many years there was no open war be-
tween England and Spain, but Elizabeth allowed her
subjects to go and help the Protestants in Holland
who had risen against Philip's cruel persecution,
and on the other hand, the Spaniards were writing
letters and promising help to the English Roman
Catholics who were striving to set Mary of Scot-
land free, and make her Queen in Elizabeth's stead.

3. Many of the English Roman Catholics were
good subjects to Elizabeth, and could not bear the
thought of the Spaniards coming to seize their
country, but it was very hard to know who was
honest and who was not. So, though Elizabeth
had never meant to persecute anyone, she and her
Government began to treat all Roman Catholic

priests as traitors. If any were f outvd \tv >ive cq\\\x\x>j ^

SHAKESPEARE, SPENSER, AND BACON. 59

they were imprisoned and sometimes put to death,
and heavy fines were imposed on those who shel-
tered them.

4. Everyone who did not go to church was
fined, and there were laws against wandering about
and begging. Since the abbeys had been de-
stroyed, there had been much distress for want of
the alms that the monks used to give. Therefore
a law was made that in each parish a rate should
be paid to maintain the helpleiss poor, and this was
the beginning of the Poor Law.

5. It was a prosperous time. The days of
Good Queen Bess have always been remembered
as a happy time in England, when there were great
steps made in all that was for the welfare of the
country, and when many great men lived. In this
feign, William Shakespeare was writing the plays
that have been the delight of all English people
ever since, and Edmund Spenser^ who had received
a grant of land in Ireland, there composed a
wonderful poem called the * Fairy Queen.' Then
likewise lived Lord Bacon, one of the greatest
thinkers of any age.

6. The merchants flourished likewise. Sir
Thomas . Gresham built the Royal Exchange for
them to meet in, and transact their business, in
London, and in those days trade with Russia was
first begun by Thomas Chancellory a bold sailor,
who had tried to sail across the Arctic Ocean, but
had been forced to land on the sKote o^ ^Jwt'^^c^^.^

Sea and make his way across Russia,

6o REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

7. In 1492, in the time of Henry VII., grand-
father to Queen Elizabeth, Columbus had dis-
covered America in a Spanish ship, while trying to
find the westward route to India. Ever since that
time bold sailors had been trying to make further
discoveries. Newfoundland was discovered by an
Italian in an English ship. The Spaniards had
made settlements in the West Indian isles, and
from Mexico and Peru they brought home gold
and silver. The English ships used to lie in wait
for the Spanish treasure ships and rob them, and
though the two countries professed to be at peace,
Queen Elizabeth did not stop them.

8. One of these sailors, Francis Drake, was the
captain who first sailed round the world, by going
south of America. Magellan^^ Portuguese, had been
beforehand in the same track, but he had died before
his voyage was over Drake's ship, the Pelican,
was brought into the Thames, and the queen came
to see it, dined on board, and knighted the captain.

9. Among these famous sailors we must reckon
Sir Hmn&ey Gilbert and Sir Walter Baleigh. They
were half-brothers, Devonshire men, and Sir Hum-
frey was the first person to think of making settle-
ments of Englishmen in other lands, or, as we now
call them. Colonies. He took out a number of people
to make a home in Newfoundland, but the climate
was cold, and the ground barren, and he was obliged
to bring them back in two ships. He was lost at sea
on his way home, but Raleigh tried to make another

settlement further south. His coVoivy >n^^ c^^

S/Ji PHILIP SIDNEY. 6i

Virginia, after the Virgin Queen. He could not feed
bis settlers, and again the attempt failed, but in
America he learnt the use of two plants which he
brought back with him, namely potatoes and

tobacco. He was noted as a scholar and soldier,
and was in great favour with the Queen,

la No one was more beloved and admired than
Sir Philip Sidney, the nephew of the E,ai\o^\.^\.»Lt^'t'i'(.
He, was considered ths mode\ ol aW 'Ctva.'t ■«'&-'^

62 REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

learned, honourable, and knightly, and the Queen
sometimes deigned to ask his advice, as if he had
been a much older man. She had the power of
making all who came near her care for nothing so
much as her service, and be ready to do or give
anything for a kind look or word from her, though
often she did not use them well, or reward them
properly.

11. On most summers, she used to go on a
Progress through some of her cities', lodging at the
houses of the great lords and gentlemen. The
people flocked to see her, there were great feastings
and sports of all kinds, and she showed herself
friendly and gracious to all, but she did not care if
the expense of providing for her almost ruined the
gentry she stayed with.

12. The grandest of all these royal visits was
that which Elizabeth paid to the Earl of Leicester
at Kenilworth Castle in 1575. He could well afford
the entertainments, and they were so splendid as
never to have been forgotten. The great clock
was stopped at 1 2, that it might always appear to
be the hour for dining, there were hunting matches,
shows, dancings, and whatever could delight or
entertain the Queen.

13. Elizabeth loved dancing, and one of her
favourites, Sir Christopher Hatton, who became
keeper of the Great Seal, first gained her notice by
his fine dancing. It was true that, as L6rd Burleigh
said of her, though she could be more than a man,

she could ^Iso be less than a v7om^.Tv,Aox ^^>«^^

HER CHARACTER. 6i

very vain, and loved flattery for her beauty, even
when she was growing old. She had 3,000 different
dresses, and 30 wigs, and she was always eager
after presents of gold, jewels, and ornaments

[a ruin of KFfJII-WORlH

Ladies and gentlemen in her time wore enormous
lace ruffs, standing up high at the back, and ladies
had huge hoop petticoats quilted and embroidered.
14. Elizabeth was sometimes vev^ TOEa.xv, mA
was not ashamed to show her jeaVausv "^^ Mv^\a&i

64 REIGN OF ELIZABETH,

who was fairer or better dressed than herself. She
kept her soldiers and sailors short of money,
partly because she never was willing to ask her
people for heavy taxes, and that was one reason
v/hy she was so much loved by the nation in
general, for, with all her faults, they knew she loved
them.

Persons: Philip II. of Spain— William Shakespeare— Ed-
mund Spenser— Lord Bacon— Sir Francis Drake— Sir Hum-
frey Gilbert-Sir Walter Raleigh-Sir PhiUp Sidney— Sir
Christopher Hatton— Columbus.

Places: Russia— Newfoundland — Virginia.

Date: Columbus discovered America, 1492.

XV. SIR HUMFREY GILBERT.

Sir Humfrey Gilbert's ship, the * Squirrel/
was thought to be unseaworthy. He was urged to
leave it for the other, the * Golden Hind,' but he said,
* I will not forsake my little company going home-
ward, with whom I have passed so many storms and
perils.* The last time the ships were near each other,
he called to those in the * Golden Hind,' 'We are as
near to Heaven by water as by land.' He was seen
sitting on deck, reading his Bible, but in the night the
lights of his ship were lost sight of, and in the fol-
lowing poem, it is supposed that it was carried
away among the icebergs, which are here described
as the fleet of Deathy because they often tower up
like huge ships in full sail : —

S//^ HUMFREY GILBERT. 65

Southward with fleet of ice

Sailed the corsair/ Death ;
Wild and fast blew the blast,

And the east wind was his breath.

His lordly ships of ice

Glistened in the sun ;
On each side, like pennons wide,

Flashing crystal streamlets run.

His sails of white sea mist

Dripped with silver rain,
But where he passed, there were cast

Leaden shadows o'er the main.

Eastward from Campobello

Sir Humfrey Gilbert sail'd ;
Three days or more, seaward he bore,

Then, alas ! the land wind fail'd.

Alas ! the land wind fail'd

And ice cold grew the night.
And never more, on sea or shore,

Should Sir Humfrey see the light.

He sat upon the deck.

The Book was in his hand.
Do not fear, Heaven is as near

By water as by land.

* Corsair, a piiaXt.
E

66 REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

In the first watch of the night,

Without a signal's sound,
Out of the sea, mysteriously,

The fleet of Death rose all around.

*

The moon and the evening star

Were hanging in the shrouds ;
Every mast, as it passed,

Seemed to rake the passing clouds.

They grappled with their prize

At midnight black and cold,
As of a rock was the shock.

Heavily the ground-swell rolFd.

Southward, through day and dark,

They drift in close embrace.
With mist and rain, to the Spanish Main,

Yet there seems no change of place.

Southward, for ever southward
They drift through dark and day.

And like a dream, in the Gulf Stream
Sinking, vanish all away.

11. W. Longfellow.

DEATH OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. 67

XVL THE SPANISH ARMADA.

1. Neither King Philip of Spain nor Queen
Elizabeth wished to be at war; but in 1584 peace
could be kept no longer, and Elizabeth allowed
her sailors to do all the harm they could to the
Spanish ships and settlements in America. At the
same time she sent troops in her own name to back
up the Dutch Protestants who had taken up arms
against Philip.

2. The Earl of Leicester had the command of
these troops in Holland. His nephew, Sir Philip
Sidney ,went with him. While the town of Zutphen
was being besieged, a shot struck Sir Philip in the
thigh, and he v/as obliged to leave the field. His
wound made him very thirsty, and with great diffi-
culty some water was fetched for him. Just as he
was putting it to his lips, he saw a poor dying man
watching it with a face that showed parching
thirst. He sent it to the man without tasting it, >
saying, * Take it, thy necessities are greater than
mine.* He died of his wound about a fortnight
after, and was very much mourned.

3. All the time Queen Mary of Scotland had
been in prison there had been plottings of the
English Roman Catholics with her and with the
Spaniards, to set her free. Lord Burleigh and the
other advisers of Elizabeth thought thex^ ^csn:^^
be no peace or safety while she Wvedi', ^vl^ >0c^^^
were afraid of nothing, so much ashet ^sAxr^Wvcv^"^^

£ 2

6& kEIGN OF ELIZABETH.

Queen, for there would then certainly be a war
and if she were to gain the mastery, the evil days of
Mary Tudor might come back. Thus they tried
to persuade Elizabeth to put her to death, but
for nineteen years the Queen had always refused.

4, At last, in 1587, Burleigh and his friend, Sir
Francis Walsingham, found that another plot was
going on. They contrived to get all the letters
written between Mary and her friends, and to read
and copy them before they were delivered. The
plan was that Elizabeth was to be murdered, and
then that the Roman Catholics should rise, and
make Mary Queen by the help of the Spaniards.
They let the correspondence go on that they might
be able to shew the Queen the whole of the scheme,
and be able to punish her enemies, but it was like
setting a trap, and it was not a worthy way of
treating them.

5. The plotters were taken, tried and put to
death, and Queen Mary Stewart was found guilty
of the same crime of conspiring against the Queen.
She was sentenced to die, but Elizabeth could not
bear to sign the death-warrant, and waited and
doubted day after day. At last however she did
put her name to it, and it was sent off to Fotheringay
Castle, where Queen Mary was beheaded, -after
being nineteen years a prisoner, in 1587. She
shewed much piety and courage, and many persons
who thought her innocent of all the crimes laid to
her charge, looked on her as a martyr for the
Roman Catholic Church.

THE SPANISH ARMAbA, 69

XVII. THE SPANISH ARMADA {continued),

1. King Philip of Spain felt himself bound to
revenge her death, as well as to punish the English
for all the help they had given to the Dutch, and
all their attacks on his American treasure ships.
So he fitted out a large fleet in Spain, and prepared
a great army in Flanders, intending to make an
utter destruction of Elizabeth, and to restore the
Roman Catholic Church.

2. The English watched his preparations, and
Sir Francis Drake checked them by sailing with
thirty swift ships into Cadiz Bay, and burning all the
Spanish ships that he found there, and this he called
singeing the King of Spain's whiskers for him. A
fleet of English ships was prepared and put under
the command of Lord Howard of Effingham, but even
in this grievous danger Queen Elizabeth would not
spare money enough to have them properly sup-
plied with powder or to feed and clothe their crews.
Many towns and many gentlemen fitted out vessels,
and all the great sailors of England met at Plymouth
to watch for the terrible Spanish fleet. So sure of
conquest were the Spaniards that they called it the
Invincible Armada, that is, the tuicoyiquer able fleet,

3. On the evening of the 19th of July, 1588, as
the English captains were playing at bowls on the
Hoe, a piece of high ground at Plymouth, word
was brought them that the Armada was in the
Channel. Sir Francis Drake would not show any
haste or alarm, but quietly finished off his game

70 . REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

before there was any hastening out to take the
command of the ships.

4. All England was soon astir. The army
came together, and Queen Elizabeth, riding a white
horse, reviewed it at Tilbury Port, telling the people
that though she had the body of a weak woman,
she had the spirit of a man and a king. And they
well knew it was so, and were ready to fight for
her to the death, though she gave them no better
leader than the Earl of Leicester.

5. On came the Spanish fleet of 130 large ships,
ranged in the form of a crescent, with 30,000 men
in it, intending to sail to Flanders, and there take
up another great army, and then land near London
and burn the city. The English ships, however,
came out from Plymouth, and hunted them all the
way along the English Channel. The Spanish
shot flew over these little vessels, and seldom
struck them, but if ever one of these stately
ships lagged behind the rest, the English were
ready to seize it.

6. Round the Isle of Wight there was much
fighting, and several great ships were taken, but
the English could not go on for want of powder.
However, when the Spaniards had just passed the
Straits of Dover, Drake sent some fire-ships in
among them, which burnt many vessels and put
the others to confusion. The next day Lord
Howard gave battle, and took twelve more ships.
The Spaniards found that they could not land.

TAey durst not return through tive StraW^, ^xv^ ^^

FIRE SHIP AT iVORk'. n

[fire-ship at wou^.^

72 REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

Ihey tried to sail all round Scotland and Ireland to
reach home.

7. Terrible storms arose, many ships were
wrecked on the Orkney Isles and in Ireland, and
the others were pursued by the English and broken
up or taken. Not one enemy set his foot in
England save as a prisoner ; and such was the loss
to Spain that it was said that every noble family
had to mourn a son or a brother, for only 60 out
of all the 130 ships found their way back to Spain.

8. Great were the rejoicings in England. Queen
Elizabeth went in state to return thanks at St. Paul's
for the safety of her people, and rewarded those who
had fought for her so bravely. And, indeed, they
had great reason to rejoice, for after the twenty
years that her Crown and the English Reformation
had been in danger, the defeat of the Armada had
at last made them safe.

Persons: Earl of Leicester— Sir Philip Sidney — Mary
Queen of Scots— Lord Burleigh— Sir Francis Walsingham
—Philip n. of Spain— Lord Howard of Effingham.

Places: Fotheringay Castle— Cadiz— Plymouth— Tilbury
Fort - Dover— The Orkneys.

Dates: Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1587— The
Spanish Armada, 1588.

THE ARMADA.

XVin. THE ARMADA.

Attend, ye all who list to hear our noble Eng-
land's praise ;

I tell of the thrice famous deeds she wrought in
ancient days,

When that great fleet invincible against her bore
in vain

The richest spoils of Mexico,' the stoutest hearts of
Spain.

It was about the lovely close of a warm summer
day,

' Mexico, in America, full of silve

whence the Spanish

74 REIGN OF ELIZABETH,

There came a gallant merchant-ship full sail to

Plymouth Bay;
Her crew had seen Castile's * black fleet, beyond

Aurigny's isle,^
At earliest twilight, on the waves lie heaving

many a mile.
At sunrise she escaped their van,^ by God's especial

grace ;
And the tall Pinta,* till the noon, had held her close

in chase.
Forthwith a guard at every gun was placed along

the wall ;
The beacon ^ blazed upon the roof of Edgecumbe's

lofty hall ; «
Many a light fishing-bark put out to pry along the

coast.
And with loose rein and bloody spur rode inland

many a post.
With his white hair unbonneted,^ the stout old

sheriff" comes ;
Behind him march the halberdiers;^ before him

sound the drums ;

' Castile, the chief kingdom of Spain.

* Aurigny, Aldemey.

■ Van, their foremost division.

* The Pinta, one of the Spanish vessels.

* Beacon, the watch-fire.

■ Mount Edgecumbe, forming one side of Plymouth Bay.
"* Unbonneted, without a cap or hat.

^ Halberdiers, men armed with halberts, or poles with axes
at the end.

THE ARMADA. 75

His yeomen ' round the market cross make clear an

ample space ;
For there behoves ^ him to set up the standard of

Her Grace.
And haughtily the trumpets peal, and gaily dance

the bells,
As slow upon the labouring wind the royal blazon ^

swells.
Look how the Lion * of the sea lifts up his ancient

crown.
And underneath his deadly paw treads the gay

lilies ^ down.
So stalked he when he turned to flight, on that

famed Picard field,^
Bohemia's ^ plume, and Genoa's® bow, and Caesar's ®

eagle shield.
So glared he when at Agincourt in wrath he

turned to bay,

' Yeomen, men in attendance.
^ Behoves him, it is his duty.
■ Royal blazon, the setting forth of the arms of the Queen.

• The Lion, the crowned lion, which is the crest of the English
arms.

• Lilies, the three lilies, or fleurs-de-lys of France, which
Queen Elizabeth bore on her shield, as all the Kings had done since
Edward III. set up his claim. They would be below the lion.

• Picard field, Cregy. (See English History Reading Books,
Part III. p. 104.)

• The old king of Bohemia, whose badge was the ostrich
feathers.

• The archers of Genoa.

• Caesar, Charles V., the German Empeioi, ca5\!^ "^x^^ ^x

76 REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

And crushed and torn beneath his claws the

princely hunters lay.
Ho ! strike the flagstaff deep, sir Knight : ho ! scat-
ter flowers, fair maids :
Ho! gunners, fire a loud salute: ho! gallants,

draw your blades :
Thou sun, shine on her joyously ; ye breezes, waft

her wide ; ^
Our glorious SEMPER EADEM,^ the banner of our

pride.
The freshening breeze of eve unfurled that banner's

massy fold ;
The parting gleam of sunshine kissed that haughty

scroll of gold ;
Night sank upon the dusky beach, and on the

purple sea.
Such night in England ne'er had been, nor e'er

again shall be.
From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn

to Milford bay,
That time of slumber was as bright and busy as

the day;
For swift to east and swift to west the ghastly war

flame spread,
High on St. Michael's Mount it shone j it shone on

Beachy Head.
Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each

southern shire,

» Wide. See English History Reading Books, Part III. p.
146.
^ S^nipcr Es^dtm (l«atin),* Always l\ie?>«ccv^,' W^C^>\^^xj?^Tv\ottQ.

THE ARMADA. 77

Cape beyond cape, in, endless range, those twink-
ling points of fire.

The fisher left his skiff to rock on Tamar*s glitter-
ing waves :

The rugged miners poured to war from Mendip's
sunless caves :

O'er Longleat's towers, o'er Cranbourne's oaks, the
fiery herald flew ;

He roused the shepherds of Stonehenge, the
rangers of Beaulieu.

Right sharp and quick the bells all night rang out
from Bristol town.

And ere the day three hundred horse had met on
Clifton down ;

The sentinel on Whitehall gate looked forth into
the night.

And saw o'erhanging Richmond Hill the streak of
blood-red light.

Then bugle's note and cannon's roar the death-like
silence broke.

And with one start, and with one cry, the royal
city woke.

At once on all her stately gates arose the answer-
ing fires ;

At once the wild alarum clashed from all her reel-
ing spires ;

From all the batteries of the Tower pealed loud
the voice of fear ;

And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back
a Jouder cheer :

78 REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

And from the furthest wards was heard the rush of

hurrying feet,
And the broad streams of pikes and flags rushed

down each roaring street ;
And broader still became the blaze, and louder

still the din,
As fast from every village round the horse came

spurring in :
And eastward straight from wild Blackheath the

warlike errand went.
And roused in many an ancient hall the gallant

squires of Kent.
Southward from Surrey's pleasant hills flew those

bright couriers forth ;
High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor they

started for the north ;
And on, and on, without a pause, untired they

bounded still :
All night from tower to tower they sprang ; they

sprang from hill to hill :
Till the proud peak unfurled the flag o*er

Darwin's rocky dales,
Till like volcanoes flared to heaven the stormy

hills of Wales,
Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's

lonely height,
Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's

crest of light.
Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's

stately fane,

THE EARL OF ESSEX, 79

And tower and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the

boundless plain ;
Till Belvoir's lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln

sent,
And Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide vale

of Trent ;
Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burnt on Gaunt's

embattled pile,

And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers

of Carlisle.

Lord Macaulay.

[By permission of Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co.]

XIX. THE UNION OF THE CROWNS.

1. Queen Elizabeth had triumphed over all
her enemies, and there was peace throughout her
kingclom ; but she was becoming an aged woman,
and all her glory could not keep sorrow from her.
Lord Leicester -died in the midst of the rejoicings
for the defeat ot the. Armada, and in 1598 she lost
the adviser -on whose counsel she had most relied,
William Cecil, Lord Burleigh.

2. His second son, Sir Sobert Cecil, became
her chief adviser, and she had already taken into
high favour the stepson of Leicester, Eobert
Devereoz, Earl of Essex, a very gallant and brave
young man, who m 1596 actuaWy looV >^v^ ^^"^^v^

REIGN OF ELIZABETH.

city of Cadiz by a sudden attack with the fleet, and
carried off a huge booty.

[ENGLISH ATTACK ON CADIZ.]

3. Essex was an eager, high-spirited young
man, not willing to loiter away \v\5 ^to^ as. C'^-itt

EXECUTION OF ESSEX. 8i

M^iM wm^ ^ ■■■■■■■■■ ■ ^^^^^ p— ^^» ■■■■ ■■■ ■ -■ — ■■- III ,. , ,^m

in attendance on the Queen, and he persuaded her
to appoint him as Lord Deputy, or Governor of
Ireland. There, however, he did not succeed, and
his doings were so reported to the Queen that she
found great fault with him.

4. Without waiting for orders Essex hurried
home to justify himself, and arriving early in the
morning, he forced his way into the Queen's
chamber, in his riding dress, with muddy boots.
While she was being dressed. She was very angry
and would not listen to him, but sent out another
Lord Deputy to take his place, and he in his passion
spoke of the Queen as an old woman as crooked
in person as she was in temper.

5. Almost wild with vexation, Essex tried to
raise a tumult in London against the Queen's
advisers; but this was soon put down, and the
rash young Earl was thrown into the Tower, tried
for treason, and sentenced to death. Long before,
the Queen had given him a ring, bidding him send
it to her if ever he should have any special request
to make of her, and she expected that he would
now use it to obtain his pardon, which she longed
to give. She waited and waited, but the ring never
came to her, and she thought that the Earl was too
proud and sullen to ask any favour from her, so
she signed the warrant for his execution, and he
was beheaded when only thirty-three years old.

6. A^ut eighteen months later the Queen re-
ceived an* entreaty to come and visit Vv^t cow^vcs.^'CsNft.
Countess of Nottingham^ who was svcVl v)lTv\.o ^^"aSScu

-» IV. X?

82 REIGN OF ELIZABETH,

There, it is believed, the dying lady confessed that
Lord Essex had sent the ring by hjer sister, Lady
Scrope, to be delivered to the Queen, but that it
had been carried to her by mistake, and she, being
the enemy of Essex, had cruelly kept it back. The
Queen was bitterly grieved, and so enraged that
she actually shook the dying woman, and said,
* God may forgive you, but I cannot/

7. The stout heart and high spirit that had
borne so much were broken by this blow. Elizabeth
was seventy years old, and her health was giving
way, and she was never like the same woman again.
She could not eat, and, though restless, grew
weaker and weaker, till at last she could only sit
on a pile of cushions, but she could not bear to go
to bed, and answered sharply to all who persuaded
her.

8. At last she was laid in bed. She was dying,
and who was to reign next } James, King of Scots,
was the right heir, and when he was named, her
attendants thought she raised her hand to her head
in token that she agreed. Then the Archbishop of
Canterbury came and read prayers and psalms.
Whenever he paused she made a sign that he
.should continue ; and thus the great Queen died,
at Richmond Palace, on the 24th of March 1603,

9. That instant Lady Scrope dropped a sap-
phire ring out at the window to her brother. Sir
Robert Carey, who was waiting below to know
when the Queen ceased to live ; he rode off, day and

nis^ht, to Scotland, so as to be ticve ^t?\. \.o \i\vwi^

ACCESSION OF JAMES L 83

the news to James that he was King of England
as well as of Scotland, and that thus the whole island
of Great Britain would come under one Sovereign.

10. James was the right heir, for his great-grand -
mother, Margaret Tudor, had been the eldest
daughter of Henry VII. He had been bred up
by men who hated the Roman Catholic Church
even more than the English did. So no one could
rightly object to him, and yet there were a few who
did not like the Scots, and who therefore wished to
have as their queen his cousin Arabella Stewart,
the daughter of his father's younger brother. Sir
Walter. Raleigh was accused of being one of these,
and was tried and sentenced, but was kept a prisoner
in the Tower instead, of being put to death.

1 1. King James was sixth of his name in Scot-
land and first in England. His surname was
Stewarty and his family was called the House of
Stewart He had been carefully brought up, and
was full of learning. He could sometimes be very
wise and shrewd in his judgment, but he was very
awkward and ungainly, and said and did such
absurd things that a great French statesman said he
was the wisest fool in all Christendom. He was
very nervous and timid, he could not bear to see a
drawn sword, and wore his clothes padded with
cotton that he might not be stabbed.

1 2. Altogether he was very unkingly in his looks
and ways, and the English laughed at him when
they compared him with their brave ^xv^ ^\.'a>L€s.>j
Queen Elizabeth ; nor did they like \.\ve twraJoex cS.

F 2

84 REIGN OF JAMES L

Scotchmen who came to Court with him and
expected all the best places and highest honours.
His Queen was Anne of Denmark, a handsome
graceful person, though not very wise, and they
had three children living, Henry, Elizabeth, and
Charles.

13. The Roman Catholics recollected that he
was their Queen Mary's son, and hoped he would do
something for them, and the Puritans hoped
that he would put an end to all the forms and
ceremonies they disliked, so that both parties were
disappointed when they found that he had thought
over the matter, and that he intended to keep up the
English Church just as he found it ; and to put
down with a strong hand all who differed from it,
one way or the other.

Persons: Sir Robert CecU— Robert Devereux, Earl of
Essex— James, King of Scots— Arabella Stewart—Sir Wal-
ter Raleigh.

Dates: Capture of Cadiz, z596~Death of Queen Eliza-
beth, z6oj.

XX. REIGN OF JAMES I.

I. The Parliament w^as about to meet on the

Sth of November, 1605, ^"d the King, James I., was

going to open it, with his young son Henry, Prince

of Wales, by his side. One of the peers. Lord Hount-

eagle, came to the Council on the day before and

said he had received a strange \e\X^T,m^i5J\Tvo xvscnxfc

THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. 85

to it, warning him not to have anything to do with
that Parliament, for a sudden destruction would
overtake everyone there, yet so that it would not
be known who hurt them.

[JAMES 1,]

2, There was much guessing what this evil
could be, and the King, whose father had been
killed in a house blown up with gunpowder, thought
that this might be the means of doing the tbte.ax«\^4
deed. It was reso/ved that there shouXA^ie. ?i.^?.xOcv

R^'jjf <:-^ 7.=LJ^iE:> n

m t6e vaiilils beseari tire Ikrase ^ Westminster,
wfaere Parliamifnr was ta nregti.

5. In t±ese ^ra^ilts- tfiere wiis fcnEcndL im tmth, a
man wltft x cj^rs: lanrsrrr:,. arrd Efccwise a number of
barrsLj of :^xi:::i:wder hioden uroier soane coals and
feggots. Tlie man's naxne was Giej fkvkes,, and
he was knowin to- be a RioiziaxL dtlnalki He was
pot to dbe tocture^ ^er tfie onodl &sbiDOCt of fbrdng
people to CQofe^ by stretckcng tibeir limbs on the

4. It soQo became kiaowtn tbat diiirteen RcMnan
CathoIkgecEtfemeiifaadpIotteditsjgetlierto take the
Ih-es of tb^ King ari^ Ms soQ^ and of all the Peers and
Commoos hy exfrilodmg gunpowder m the cellars
while Parliament was being opened. In die confu-
sion that would ha\'e foIk>iied the dreadfid disaster,
the>' meant to seize little Prince Charles^ who was
only six years old, and breed him up as a Roman
Catholic^ foolishly thinking that they could hold out
against all the families and friends of the murdered
gentlemen. Guy Fawkes was to have fired the train.

5. One rf these plotters^ howe\"er, loved his
friend Motmteagle too much to let him perish with
the rest, and thus was the warning given that led
to the discovery. The traitors fled to a house,
where they shut themselves up, but the King's
troops followed them, and by chance some gun-
powder caught fire and killed several in the very
way they had intended for others. The rest were
taken, and put to death as traitors.

6. James was very vain of having found out

S/jR WALTER RALEIGH. 87

the plot. He kept a holiday in remembrance of
it, and nothing pleased him better than to be called
the English Solomon. He had really much learn-
ing, and he caused the translation of the Bible,
which had been made in the time of Henry VHL,
to be looked over and corrected by the very best
scholars in Hebrew and Greek who could be found.

7. James's eldest son, Henry, was full of pro-
mise. He was good and devout, and free from his
father's evil custom of profane swearing. He used
to say that all the sport in the world was not
worth a single oath. He was also very brave and
high-spirited and took great interest in the navy,
going often to Deptford to see the building of the
ships. He would sometimes visit Sir Walter Raleigh
in the Tower, saying he wondered how his father
could beep such a bird in a cage. It was a great
grief to all England when, in 161 2, this young prince
died of a fever, when nineteen years old.

8. Sir Walter Raleigh always said that he knew
of a gold mine up one of the rivers in South
America, and he persuaded the King to release
him from the Tower to lead an expedition thither.
He sailed, but he could find no gold, and he let his
people attack and plunder some of the Spanish
settlements. From one of these they were beaten off,
and Sir Walter's only son was killed in the fight.

9. He came home a sad and broken man, and
he was at once made prisoner again. The Spanish
King complained of his having attacked the
Spaniards in time of peace, and James, who wished

88 REIGN OF JAMES I.

to be friendly with Spain, caused Raleigh to be
beheaded, not for bad conduct, but on the old
sentence that had been given thirteen years before.

10. The truth was, that James all his life let
himself be led by favourites, to whom he gave silly
nicknames. The last and chief of these favourites
was Geoi^e VilHers, whom he made Duke of
Bnclringham, and who was also a great friend of
Prince Charles. The King used sometimes to call
the Duke, Steenie^ because he was like a picture of
St. Stephen, and sometimes his doggie. This name
was given because the Duke used to put the King
in mind when he was rude or awkward, as a dog
might pull a pig by the ear ; and so James let him-
self be called in return dear sow, dad, and gossip.
The jroung Prince he called Baby Charles.

11. Buckingham was vain and haughty, and
offended the nobles greatly. Besides, the King gave
him far too large gifts. James was always calling
upon his people for money, which Queen Elizabeth,
with her saving ways, had taken care not to do.
Many of the Puritans were also much disappointed
that greater alterations were not made in the wor-
ship in churches, and some of them who had gone
to Holland in the reign of Elizabeth now took
ship and sailed away to North America. They
hoped that in that distant land they would be able
to found a new home for themselves where they
could worship God in the way they preferred.
They are called the Pilgrim Fathers.

12. All the Tqdor Kings and Queens had done

THE KING AND THE COMMONS. 89

much as they liked with their Parliaments. The
nobles had lest much power and wealth in the
^^-ars of the Roses, and the Commons were willing
to be guided by Henry VIIL, and still more by
Elizabeth, whom they loved and trusted. If they
opposed her, she would give them a scolding, but
she knew how much they would bear, and would
change her plans rather than offend them.

13. But what the Commons had borne from
their Queen, offended them in the Scottish James,
whom they did not like, and who was full of notions
of kingly power and right. No disturbance took
place in his time, but the seed of much future
dissension was sown.

Pet-sons: James I.- Guy Fawkes— Sir Walter Raleigh—
Henry, Prince of Wales— Prince Charles— George Villiers,
Dnke of Buckingham— The Pilgrim Fathers.

Date: The Gunpowder Plot, 1605.

XXI. CHARLES I. AND BUCKINGHAM.

1. James I. had all through his reign very
different views from Queen Elizabeth, and instead
of hating Spain and upholding the Protestants
everywhere, he wished to have the Spaniards for
allies, and was too timid and cautious to take up
arms to help anyone.

2. His daughter Elizabeth was married to a
German prince, called the Elector Palatine of the
Sliine. She was very beautiful, and so charming

I

90 REIGN OF JAMES L

that she was called t/ie Queen of Hearts. The
Protestants of Bohemia, being displeased with the
German Emperor, offered to make the Elector
their King, and she persuaded him to accept
the offer. This brought on a long war between
the Roman Catholics and the Protestants of
Germany, which lasted thirty years, and in which
Elizabeth and her husband lost not only Bohemia,
but their beautiful home at Heidelberg on the
Rhine. King James had warned them that he
\\x>uld not bring England into trouble to help
thcm» and he never did anything for them.

3. He wislied his son Charles to marry the
sister of the King of Spain, but the Prince
did not like to take a wife without having seen
her, and he and the Duke of Buckingham set
out in disguise for Madrid to make acquaintance
with hen However, they found that it was the
Spanish custom to shut up the royal ladies so
closely that no man could speak to them, and
though Charles made himself known, he was not
allowed to have any conversation with her.

4. Once he climbed over a wall to try to talk
to her, when she was walking in the garden, but
she was frightened, and hastened away. The only
lady to whom he could talk was the young Queen
of Spain, a French princess, and she spoke of her
sister, Henrietta Maria, describing her as very
charming. On his way home, through Paris,
Charles contrived to see Henrietta at a ball, and
admired her so much that he persuaded his father

ACCESSION OF CHARLES I. 91

to break oflf the engagement to the Spanish lady,
and ask for the hand of the French one.

5. Just then, however, King James fell ill of an
ague, and died at the end of a fortnight, in the
year 1625. Charles I. became King when he was
in his 25th year, and soon after, Henrietta Maria
was brought to England and married to him. He
loved her most tenderly all his life, but it was
a great misfortune that she was a Roman Catholic,
for the whole nation dreaded and distrusted her,
doubting what she might lead the King to do.

6. The Duke of Buckingham was also much
disliked, and was thought to have misused the
money that was granted by the State. The Par-
liament was just going to demand an account from
him, when the King came and dissolved it. Then,
as no supplies of money had been granted, the
King tried to obtain it without a grant of
taxes from the House of Commons. There were
means of raising money which had come down
from former times, and had been used by the
Plantagenet and Tudor Kings, and the people
had in those times submitted, but now they had
begun to think whether these customs were just
or not

7. When in 1628 the King had to call another
parliament, the Commons, chiefly led by Sir John
Eliot, from Cornwall, drew up what they called
fhe Petition of Eight, and made it understood that
they would grant no taxes, unless it were made
unlawful for the King to demand loans and force

91 REIGN OF CHARLES I.

people to pay the money, or to keep prisoners shut
up without trial, or to quarter soldiers on private
houses.

8. He consented, much against his will, and

JCKIKOIIAM.]

the money he required was granted, but he after-
wards had Sir John Eliot thrown Into prison. The
place was so unhealthy that Eliot died there, and
as he was a good man and greatly respected, this
did much to turn men's minds against tVelfJm?.. K

STRAFFORD AND LAUD. 93

fleet was fitted out to help the French Protestants,
who were being besieged at La Rochelle, and the
Duke of Buckingham went to Portsmouth to take
the command. There this favourite was stabbed
to the heart, as he came out of his lodging, by a
man named Felton, who was hanged for the
murder. He apparently had no accomplices, though
all the country rejoiced at Buckingham's death.

9. After this the King's chief advisers were
William Land, Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Thomas Wentworth, who was made Earl of Straf-
ford. Wentworth had joined in obtaining the Peti-
tion of Rights, but he afterwards came over to the
King's side. It was a time when opinions were
very much divided, and there were good honest
men in each party. Some thought it their first duty
to stand up for the Church and the Crown, and
others that they ought to establish the rights of
Englishmen, not to be oppressed, or forced to do
anything against their conscience.

10. Archbishop Laud was striving to get all
the rules in the Prayer-Book fully carried out, and
the fines and punishments, that were enforced for
neglecting them, much enraged the Puritans, who
had always thought that forms and ceremonies
interfered with worshipping in spirit.

1 1. Lord Strafford was equally busy in keeping
Ireland in order, and in advising the King how to
keep down the people, and to avoid calling
together another Parliament. These two, L.^.vi.d
and Strafford, had a sort ot ^waVcYv-^ot^ Xi^X-NN^*^^

94 REIGN OF CHARLES L

them. It was ' Thorough,' and it meant that the
spirit of faction, as they considered it, must be
thoroughly put down.

12. There was a court called the Star Chamber,
from the starred ceiling of the room where it sat.
Here, since the time of Henry VH., some of the
King's Council sat to judge persons brought before
them for certain offences, and to sentence them,
sometimes to fines, sometimes to worse punish-
ments. Men who wrote or spoke against the
King were there sometimes condemned to have
their ears cut off, and to stand in the pillory all day,
to be mocked by the mob ; and for many otlier
offences large fines had to be paid, which helped
to fill the treasury.

13. Besides this, ever since King Alfred's time,
the King had had a right to call on places on
the coast to share in fitting out his navy. The
money raised for this purpose was called Ship
Money, but it had not often been demanded, except
in time of need. However, the King thought it
could be asked for without a Parliament, and so
in 1634 he sent to collect the Ship Money.

14. John Hampden, a Buckinghamshire squire,
believed that it was an unlawful tax, and refused
to pay it. There was a trial, and out of the
twelve judges five were in favour of Hampden and
seven in favour of the King. People were dividing
more and more into two great parties, one for the
King and the other for the Parliament, one for

the Church of England and iVve otici^i io^ >i^<5i

THE TRIAL OF STRAFFORD. 95

Puritan reformers, and it was plain that a great
struggle was near at hand. Many of the Scots had
entered into a Covenant not to accept the Prayer-
Book, and were called Covenanters.

Persons : The Elector Palatine of the Rhine— Elizabeth,
*the Queen of Hearts'— Henrietta Maria, of France— The
Duke of Buckingham— Sir John EUot— William Laud, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury— Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford
— John Hampden — The Covenanters.

R/ace : The Star Chamber.

JDaies: Death of James I., 1625— The Petition of Right,
Z628.

XXII. THE LONG PARLIAMENT.

1. In 1640 the Scottish Covenanters took up
arms, and it became impossible for King Charles
to avoid calling his Parliament together, for he
was in need of money to subdue them. The
first thing that the Commons did on meeting
was to impeach^ the Earl of Strafford and Arch-
bishop Laud for treason against the laws of the
country, and to send them to the Tower. /

2. Strafford was brought to trial l^efore the
House of Peers, and defended hiiriself bravely ;
but he had acted, with a high hand; and had taken
little heed of people^s rights, so that all were against
him, and he was condemned to death. Still, as he
had done all for the King's sake, it was thought
that Charles would save him, and indeed he strove
hard to find some means of so doing, but there was

' To impeach Strafford, to charge hlnv with m\?»\«fca.N\ss«i\^
his ofEce,

96 REIGN OF -CHARLES I.

a great outcry ; the Queen and her mother declared
that all would be lost if the King did not yield
StrafTord up to satisfy the people, and Strafford

himself sent a message to the King telling him
to have no scruple in doing what would serve best
for his own safety.

3. So Charles gave way, and consented to his

THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 97

friend's death. Strafford only said, * Put not your
trust in princes/ and prepared to die like a brave
man. The King never ceased to grieve over the
way in which he had deserted his friend.

4. The Parliament then passed an Act to pre-
vent its being dissolved without its own consent,
and to this Act Charles was forced to agree. The
Star Chamber was abolished, and the demand for
Ship Mcfiey declared unlawful. After this many
persons thought that enough had been done, but
there were others in the Parliament who wanted to
cut off more of the King*s power, so as to make
sure of his not taking vengeance on them for what
they had already done.

5. Hearing of these plans, the King determined
to go down to Westminster in person and cause the
five leading members, of whom Hampden was one,
to be arrested. He told the Queen of his plans,
she told one of her ladies, the lady sent word to one
of the five, and by the time the King, with three
hundred armed gentlemen, reached the House, the
five were gone.

6. The King said that since he found the birds
were flown, he desired that they might be delivered
up to him, but the Commons and the people of
London were exceedingly indignant at his attempt
to seize them. When he returned to his coach he
was assailed by cries of * Privilege ! privilege ! *
meaning that it was the privilege of Members of
Parliament only to be arrested by the decree of
their own body. A paper was even thrown into the

H. IV. G

98 REIGN OF CHARLES I.

carriage window with the words, * To your tents,
Israel.*

7. So far from delivering up the five members,
the Parliament demanded an armed guard for its
own protection. They knew that the King would
do his best to undo whatever they did, though his
consent might be wrung from him by force ; and
he, on his side, looked on such forced concessions
as not binding, and thought his royal power a trust
which he was bound to use for his people, and
which he ought to hand on undiminished to his
heirs. Moreover, he and his Commons had very
different ideas of what was for the good of his
people.

8. Thus each side distrusted the other, and
party nicknames were freely given. The King's
friends, or Cavaliers, followed the new fashion that
had come in from France, and wore their hair long
and curled over a deep lace collar. The country
party held this custom to be unmanly and un-
scriptural, and kept the old mode of short cut hair,
whence they were termed KonncUieads and Pricks
ears, while they called the other side Malignants.

9. The King \vas himself a grave, thoughtful,
religious man, and his leading friends were good,
faithful, and pious ; but there were also among the
Cavaliers a great many foolish, gay young men,
who merely hated the staid gravity and seriousness
of the Parliamentary party. Many of these last-

mentioned were Puritans, and thought all pleasure
^nd amusement sinful and wot\dVy \ aivd viVvsV^ ^<atftR

THE MILITIA BILL. 99

of the Cavaliers were wild, idle, and vicious, some
of these Roundheads were strict, harsh, and sour.

10. Most of the people of London were strongly
on the side of the Parliament. The King and his
family were mobbed, and so much distressed there
that Charles went away to York, while the Queen
took her little daughter Mary to Holland to be mar-
ried to the Prince of Orange. She carried with her
all the plate and money she could collect, in case
there should be need to buy weapons and powder
for carrying on a war.

1 1. In those days there was no regular paid
army always kept up, only a guard for the King.
When there was need each county was bound, at
the call of the King, to raise a certain number of
men, called tJie Militia, The Parliament sent up
two bills to the King, one giving to itself the right
to call out the Militia, the other forbidding the
Bishops to sit in the House of Lords.

12. Charles consented to the last of these, but
he refused to pass the one depriving himself of the
power of calling out the army. It was the spring
of 1642, and both parties felt that nothing but arms
would decide who should have the mastery, though
all good men grieved very much at thus beginning
a. civil war, especially the King's friend, lord Falk-
land, on the one side, and on the other John
Hampden, who wore on his breast the two lines —

' Not against the King 1 ftgVvt,
But for the King and coutYtty's n^\.*

G a

loo REIGX OF CHARLES L

Persons : Charles I. — The Parliament— Earl of Strafiford—
Hampden— Lord Falkland— Cavaliers— Romidheads.

DiUa: The Long^ Parliament first met, 1640— Civil war
began, 1642.

XXIII. THE GREAT REBELLION.

1. The first open act of revolt against Charles
I. was by Sir John Hotham, governor of Hull, who
refused to admit the King into the town in April,
1642. In August, Charles set up his Royal Stan-
dard at Vottingliam Castle, in the midst of a storm
of wind which instantly blew it down, to the dis-
may of the Cavaliers who had flocked to it These
Cavaliers were mostly loyal nobles and gentlemen,
who had sold their plate to arm their sons and their
tenants to fight for their Church and King.

2. The chief general was the Earl of Lindsay,
a brave and prudent old warrior ; but the command
of the horse was given to Prince Bnpert, son to
the King's sister Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, a
dashing young soldier, who had grown up in the
midst of the Thirty Years* War, and who was hot,
hasty, and eager.

3. The Parliament put its army under Sir
Thomas Fairfax and the Earl of Essex, son to
Queen Elizabeth's favourite. There were many
squires in this army likewise, but the greater part
of it consisted of lawyers, and people from the

towns, who had no horses, though they were sturdy
/bot-soldiers. Thus the Roya\ axmy ^aa ^Xxotvj^^x.

I02 REIGN OF CHARLES /.

in horse, and the Parliamentary army in foot. The
only men in either army who had been trained to
war were some German and some English, who
had hired themselves to fight in the Thirty Years*
War in Germany, and now hired themselves to
help in training the troops.

4. This was not so cruel and savage a war as
many have been ; though a civil war is always a
dreadful one, because families are broken up and
take different sides. The best men on each side
grieved over it very much, and never allowed kill-
ing, burning, and robbery if they could help it
Women and children were almost always safe ; and
in many places things went on just as usual, and
the judges made their circuits as in time of peace.

5. The worst things that were done in this wai
were the work of the men used to the cruel Ger-
man wars ; also by some of the wild young men
in the King's army, who were half mad with ex-
citement. On the other hand, some of the Puritans
in the Parliamentary army fancied all that was said
in the Bible about the Canaanites and their idol
temples applied to clergymen and churches first,
and in some degree to all their enemies. Indeed,
a man was sent round by the Parliament to destroy
all that he thought superstitious ; and painted
glass windows, fine old books, plate, and other
things, which the first Reformers had spared, were
now ruined.

6. The first battle was at Edgehill. Prince
Rupert's horse defeated lliaV oi ticv^ ^outv^^^^^'s*,

BATTLE OF EDGEHILL. 103

and he thought the battle won and galloped off

in pursuit ; while old Lord Lindsay sighed at hax-
iog been joined in command viiftv s\jk\v -i. ■t;a:^\«>"i.

I04 REIGN OF CHARLES L

Lindsay's force, not being supported by the cavalry,
was broken, and he himself mortally wounded. He
was carried into a stable and there died, in the
arms of his son, who had given himself up as a
prisoner rather than leave him.

7. The King came to Oxford, and he and his
Queen held their Court among the old colleges.
There were many skirmishes in the country round,
and in one of them, at Chalgrove Field, John
Hampden was shot in the neck. He died praying
aloud to God to heal the wounds of his bleeding
country. Lord Falkland was killed soon after in a
fight at Newbury. He was glad to die ; he said
he foresaw much misery to the country, and was
rejoiced to be out of it.

8. A Huntingdonshire gentleman, a very
active member of Parliament, named Oliver Crom-
well, had told Sir Thomas Fairfax that what was
wanting to his army was a firm and sturdy body
of horsemen, who could always be trusted. Crom-
well undertook to train such a troop, and he ad-
mitted no one who was not deeply in earnest and
ready to dare and bear everything. This troop,
who were called CromwelVs IronsideSy soon became
very terrible to the King's army, and brought great
success to their own side.

9. The Scotch Covenanters had promised help
to the Parliament, and they accordingly besieged
York. Prince Rupert marched to relieve it, and
at Marston Moor he met the English and Scottish
armies together. The Scots fled, but the English

BATTLE OF NASEBY. 105

stood firm, and Rupert was so completely defeated
that he had to leave York to its fate, and return to
the South.

ID. Parliament had in the meantime been sit-
ting at Westminster. It had sentenced Archbishop
Laud to be beheaded, he being the fourth English
Primate who had been put to a violent death. It
had also forbidden the use of the Praycr-Book, and
expelled from their parishes the clergymen who
would not obey in this matter ; though of course
this was only carried out in the places that were
in the power of the Parliamentary army.

11. Cromwell had been made Lieutenant-
General and the chief commander of the army, and in
164s he defeated the King most completely at the
Battle of Naseby, in Northamptonshire, and took all
his cannon and baggage. This was the ruin of the
Royal cause : Charles left Oxford, and sent the
Queen for safety to France. He soon found him-
self altogether without shelter, for Bristol, which
was the only important place now remaining to
him, and which Rupert had been holding for him,
surrendered to the Parliament.

12. The King then made up his mind to give
himself up to the Scots, among whom he had been
bom. Though they had taken the Covenant and had
risen against him, when he had tried to make them
use the Prayer-Book in their churches, he still thought
they would stand by him in his distress. But they
kept him as a sort of prisoner for some weeks while
they made treaties with the English, and at last

io6

REIGN OF CHARLES T.

they gave him up to the Parliament for a large
sum of money, ;^400,ooo.

13. Thus the war ended. This is only the
thread of the chief events. There happened much
more : there were sieges of towns and castles,
brave defences, and gallant deeds, that must be
read of more fully in other books.

Persons: Sir John Hothtun— The Earl of Lindsay — Prince
Rupert— Sir Thomas Fairfax— The Earl of Essez^John
Hampden — Lord Falkland— Oliver Cromwell— Queen Hen-
rietta Maria— Archbishop Laud.

Batllis: Edgehilland Chalgrove, 1642— Newbuij, 1643—
Harston Moor, 1644— Naseby, 1645.

.-, ^^^.J^ ■»•_-=:

[OXFORD CAStLt.^

MARSTON MOOR. 107

XXIV. MARSTON MOOR.

(Related by a reckless old pirate, now fighting for the Parliament.)

Would'ST hear the tale ? On Marston heath,

Met front to front the ranks of death,

Flourished the trumpets fierce, and now

Fir*d was each eye, and flushed each brow ;

On either side loud clamours ring,

' God and the Cause,' * God and the King;*

Right English all, they rushed to blows

With naught to win and ?ill to lose.

I could have laughed, but lack'd the time,

To see in phrenesy ^ sublime.

How the fierce zealots fought and bled

For King or State, as humour led :

Some for a dream of public good.

Some for Church tippet, gown or hood ;

Draining their veins, in death to claim

A patriot's 2 or a martyr's name.

But I resume. The battle's rage
Was like the strife which torrents wage
When Orinoco ^ in his pride
Rolls to the main no tribute tide,

' Phrenesy, frenzy, madness.

* Patriot, a lover of his country.

• Orinoco, a river in South America. The bore, or great com-
motion in the waters caused by the comitv^ m ol XJaa V\AA ^^i:^^
against the current, is here compared to tVie meeXSn^^l^^ ^tcksrs*.

lo8 REIGN OF CHARLES I.

But, 'gainst broad ocean urges far

A rival sea of roaring war,

While in ten thousand eddies driven

The billows fling their foam to heaven.

And the pale pilot seeks in vain

Where rolls the river, where the main.

Even thus, upon the bloody field.

The eddying tides of conflict wheel'd

Ambiguous,* till that heart of flame

Hot Rupert, on our squadrons came.

Hurling against our spears a line

Of gallants fiery as their wine.

Then ours, though stubborn in their zeal,

In zeal's despite began to reel.

What wantest thou more ? In tumult tost

Our leaders fell, our ranks were lost;

A thousand men, who drew the sword

For both the Houses, and the Word,

Preached forth from hamlet, grange and down.

To curb the crosier ^ and the crown.

Now stark and stiff lie stretched in gore

And ne'er shall rail at mitre more.

Think not that there I stopped to view

What of the battle should ensue,

But as I cleared that bloody press

Our northern horse ran masterlcss.

Monkton and Milton told the news

How troops of Roundheads crossed the Ouse,

^ Ambiguous, doubtiul. * Ciosiw, \.\ie ^v^o^'«» ^fcaff.

THE FUGITIVE KING. 109

And many a bonny Scot aghast,
Spurring his palfrey, northward past,
Cursing the day when zeal or meed *
First lured their Lesley o'er the Tweed.
Yet when I reached the banks of Swalt
Had rumour learnt another tale,
With his barb'd horse, fresh tidings say
Stout Cromwell has redeemed the day.

From Rokeby^ by Sir Walter Scott,

XXV. THE FUGITIVE KING.

(On an incident during the wanderings of Charles I., after the
attic of Naseby. It took place in Radnorshire in the year 16^5.)

Cold grey cloud on the hill tops,
Cold buffets of hill side rain,
As a bird that they hunt on the mountain
The King, he turns from Rhos lane,
A writing of doom on his forehead.
His eyes wan, wistful and dim.
For his comrades seeking a shelter,
But earth has no shelter for him.

Grey silvery gleam of armour,
White ghost of a wandering King,
No sound but the iron-shod footfall,
And the bridle chains as they ring.
Save when the tears of heaven
Shed thick o*er the loyal hills,
Gush down in a hoarse-tongued torrent,
Rude prophet of nearing ills,

' Meedy reward.

REIGN OF CHARLES I.

But now in wide sweeping curtains,

In a solid wall comes the rain.

And the troop draw bridle and hide them

In the bush by the streamside plain.

King Charles smiled sadly and gently,

* In the Beggar's Bush,' said he,

' For I of England am beggar" d.

And her be^ars may pity me.'

Oh ! safe in the fadeless fir-tree

The squirrel may take up his resti

And the sparrow within the rafters

Of God's own house has her nest

But the land he lov'd well, not wisely,

Will almost grudge him a grave;

Then weep too late in her folly.

The dark Dictator's ' slave. ^ ^ Palgrave.

' Dictator, one whose authnrily is uolimiied. It here mean
Oliver CiomweU.

THE KING AT CARISBROOKE. \ii

XXVI. THE DEATH OF CHARLES L

1. King Charles was kept as a prisoner at
Holdenby House in Northamptonshire, while the
Parliament and the army were disputing. The
Members of Parliament were mostly Presbyterians,
and, though they disapproved of bishops, had ap-
pointed ministers in every parish ; but in the army
that Cromwell had trained the greater number
were Independents, and held that any man who
felt able to do so might preach and act as a minis-
ter without being set apart for the purpose,

2. Cromwell and his army were quite as strong
as the Parliament, and after four months an officer
named Joyce carried off the King froni the keeping
of the Parliament, and lodged him at Hampton
Court, his own palace. Attempts were made to
come to some settlement, but all in vain ; for the
army and Parliament did not agree in what they
asked, and the King would not grant all that they
demanded, nor did they put faith in what he did
promise.

3. Some of the more violent of the army be-
came furious, and there was danger of their attack-
ing the King's life. So he escaped from Hampton
Court, but not finding any safe shelter, he gave
himself up to Colonel Hammond, the governor of
the Isle of Wight, where he was kep\. m ^wvfiww^*^

REIGN OF CHARLES /.

Caatle, and there seemed to be a chance that he

and the Parliament might come to an agreement
which would set him on his throne aga.\u

THE KING'S TRIAL. 113

4. Finding out this, General Cromwell sent a
party of soldiers with Colonel Pryde, who stood at
the door of the House of Commons and shut out
all the members who were against the plans oC the
army, leaving only about fifty, who were ready to
do whatever he pleased. After this strange thin-
ning out of the Parliament, the remainder were
nicknamed the Siunp.

5. The remnant, at Cromwell's bidding, voted
that the King should be brought to trial for treason
against the nation. The House of Lords would
not pass such a measure, so the Rump declared
itself the chief authority in the kingdom, and ap-
pointed a High Court of Justice of about 135
members.

6. The King had in the meantime attempted
again to escape from Carisbrooke, but the window
through which he tried to get out was too narrow,
and held him fast. He had been seized there and
had been taken to Hurst Castle. The patience
and dignity with which he bore his troubles had
touched the hearts of all who came near him,
especially Colonel Hammond, who became his
warm friend.

7. After this Charles was brought to the
Palace of St. James's, London, and on the 20th of
January, 1649, was led into Westminster Hall
to be tried, as Charles Stewart^ for having levied
war against the Parliament and caused the shedding
of blood. He was called on to plead G\i\\fc^ ^x
H^ot Guilty; but in answer he dedat^d vjVCsv \x>3S:cw

H. IV. n

114 REIGN OF CHARLES L

that this was no lawful court, and that it had no
authority to judge him ; therefore he refused to
make any reply or to plead before it.

8. Sixty-nine of the persons named as belong-
ing to the Court of Justice were present, and of
these fifty-nine at the end of a week signed a paper
sentencing the King to be beheaded at Whitehall
on the 30th of January. He was permitted to have
Juxon, the Bishop of London, with him for his last
day and night, which he spent in earnest prayer
and preparation for death.

9. On the last evening he was allowed to see
two of his children. Of the others, Charles, Prince
of Wales, had long been abroad ; James, Dnke of
York, had fled from Sion House, while sup-
posed to be playing at hide-and-seek, and had
been taken on board ship in girl's clothes ; Mary
was married to the Prince of Orange ; and little
Henrietta had been taken abroad disguised as a
beggar's child. But Elizabeth, a girl of thirteen,
and Henry, a boy of eight, were still kept at Sion
House, under the care of the Duke of Northumber-
land.

10. Elizabeth was old enough to write an ac-
caunt - of this last meeting with her. father. He
told her what books he wished her to read,, and
gave her his messages to her mother and brothers.
Then taking up little Henry on his knee, he. said,
* Mark me, child, they will cut off thy father's head,
and may perhaps make thee a King ; but mark

what I say, you must not be a "Kaxv^ s>o \otv^ ^^

HIS EXECUTION. 115

your brothers Charles and James do live, for tliey
will cut off your brothers' heads when they can
catch them, and cut off thy head at last. There-
fore, I charge thee, do not be made a King by
them/ The little boy, with a deep sigh, said, * I
will be torn in pieces first/ Afterwards the King
gave them the few jewels he still had, and left the
poor girl weeping in anguish.

11. He said that death was not terrible to him,
since he thanked God that he was prepared, and he
slept soundly for some hours, then prayed with
the Bishop, and when called for by the guard
crossed the Park to Whitehall, where he again had
to wait till the scaffold was ready. * Sire,* said the
Bishop, ' there is but one stage ipore, and it will
carry you from earth to heaven.' * I go,' he said,
*from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown,
where no disturbance can be/ Then he laid his
head on the block, and, after a brief prayer, he
stretched out his arms as a signal to the execu-
tioner, and so died in his forty-ninth year, on the
30th of January, 1649.

1 2. His body was carried to Windsor Castle, and
there, through the falling snow, which whitened all
the pall, he was carried to his grave in St. George's
Chapel, attended by four faithful noblemen ; but
no service was permitted at his burial.

Persons: Oliver Cromwell— The Presbyterians— The In-
dependents—Colonel Hammond— Colonel Prj^^— TVi<^ '^:osk!^
-^biurlea, Prince of Wales — James, Duke ol '^oi^

H2

ri6 REIGN OF CHARLES I.

Fliua: Hddenby Houae— Hwnptoa Court— Carisbrooke
CuUe— Hurst Castle— St James's PaUce— Westminster
HaU— WhitebaU-Winilsor Castle.

Dmt: Execntion of Charles I., 1649.

On a Quiet Conscience.

By King Charles I. (in Fawkes's Poetical Calendai^

Close thine eyes and sleep secure,
Thy soul is safe, thy body pure ;
He that guards thee, He that keeps,
JVever slumbers, never sVeepa.
A. quiet conscience in fhe bteaaS.

THE EXECUTION OF CHARLES I. 117

Has only peace, has only rest :
The music and the mirth of kings
Are out of tune unless she sings ;

Then close thine eyes and sleep secure.

XXVII. LINES BY ANDREW MARVELL*
ON THE EXECUTION OF CHARLES I.

There, twining subtle fears with hope,
He wove a net^ of such a scope,

That Charles himself might chase

To Car'sbrooke's narrow case,

That thence the royal actor borne
The tragic * scaffold might adorn,

While round, the armed bands

Did clap their bloody hands.

He nothing common did or mean
Upon that memorable scene.

But with his keener eye

The axe*s edge did try.

Nor called the gods,^ with vulgar spite
To vindicate^ his helpless right,

But bow'd his comely head

Down as upon a bed.

' Andrew Marvell was secretary to Cromwell, together with the
poet John Milton.

* It is Cromwell who * wove the net.*

* Tragic, like a scene in a very sad play.

* The GodSf meaning Fate or ProvVdeivce.
' Vittdicate, defend against oppos\l\on.

11 8 THE COMMONWEALTH.

XXVIII. THE COMMONWEALTH.

1. Immediately after the execution of Charles I.,
the Rump abolished the title of King, and ap-
pointed a Council of State to govern the Common-
wealth of England. John Bradshaw was president
of the Council, but Oliver Cromwell had really
become the most powerful man in England, since
he commanded the army, and no one could resist
his soldiers.

2. The Irish, however, rose in favour of the
son of Charles I., and Cromwell crossed over to
Ireland and put down the rising with relentless
severity. In the meantime the Scotch, shocked
at the effect of their betrayal of their King, had
proclaimed Charles XL, and invited him over to
reign in their country, and be restored in England
by their arms.

3. Charles entered England at the head of the
Scots, but Cromwell met them at Worcester, in
165 1, and totally routed them. The young King
rode away with only two gentlemen, and they had
to put him in the charge of some poor woodcutters,
named Penderelly near Boscobel, in Shropshire.
His hair was cut, and he was dressed like a pea-
sant, while he was hidden in Boscobel wood. Once
he sat for some time hidden in the branches of a
great oak, while the Roundheads were searching
below.

PRINCE CHARLES. 119

4. Afterwards he was di^uised as a groom,
nd thus rode with a lady named Jane Lane on a
lillion behind him ; but he was nearly found out,
/hen they were stopping at an inn, because he
ould not turn the spit for the cook in the kitchen.

A^ile hidden in the secret room of a priest in a
ioman Catholic house, he read a book which
nade him at heart a Romanist, though he never
laid so, because he knew that thus he should lose
ill chance of reigning in England.

5. At last he reached Brighton, which was then

I20 THE COMMONWEALTH.

a little village, and sailed for France in a collier's
vessel. His sister, Elizabeth, pined away. She
was sent to Carisbrooke Castle, and there was found
dead, with her cheek resting on her Bible, and
after this little Henry was sent to join his mother
at Paris.

6. There was a great war at sea with the
Dutch, when Admiral Van Tromp sailed forth
with a broom at his mast-head, saying that he
meant to sweep the English fleets from their sea&
But the English Admiral, Bobert Blake, was a
greater commander than he, and such victories
were won that the Dutch were glad to make
peace.

7. The Long Parliament had lasted nineteen
years, and only the fifty members called the Rump
were left. As soon as they dared to bring in a bill
that Cromwell disapproved, he marched into the
House of Commons, with some soldiers, and told
them that he had come to put an end to their
prating, and that they were no Parliament. Point-
ing to the mace, he said to his soldiers, *Take
away that fooFs bauble.' He then locked the
door, and put the key in his pocket,

8. He afterwards summoned, by name, a sort
of Parliament of 150 persons, which is com-
monly called Barebone's Parliament, from the name
of one of the members. These men soon gave up all
their powers to Cromwell, and he took the title of
Protector, and reigned with all the powers of a king.

9. He was a large tall man, of coarse features

DISMISSAL OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 131

122 THE COMMONWEALTH.

and rough manners, but with kindly feelings
beneath. He was harsh and severe at times, but
never wantonly cruel. He was a man of g^eat
ability, wisdom and prudence, and could speak
most ably and to the point when he chose, but
when he did not want to make his meaning plain,
he wrapped it up in a strange mist of words that
no one could understand.

10. The Cavaliers thought him a mere ambi-
tious hypocrite, rebel, and murderer ; the Round-
heads, a most religious patriot It is not easy to
say which were right, nor whether he was deceiv-
ing himself by thinking he only took the foremost
place because no one but he could bring back
order.

11. In the five years that he ruled, he certainly
brought England into a peaceful state, and he
made his power much respected abroad. He went
to war with the Spaniards, and the island of Ja-
maica, in the West Indies, was taken from them ;
and he made an alliance with the King of France.
On this, the young Charles and his brother James,
Duke of York, had to leave Paris and go to Hol-
land. James fought in the army of the King of
Spain. Henry was left at Paris, where his mother
tried to make him a Roman Catholic, but he
stoutly resisted, until his brother sent for him to
Holland. Queen Henrietta and her little daughter
remained at Paris, where they were so poor that
the Princess .sometimes had to lie in bed for want
of firing.

DEATH OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 123

12. Cromwell was much harassed by the plots
of those who disapproved of his power, Cavaliers
on the one hand, and on the other, those who
had never meant to set him up when they
put the King down. His health began to give
way, and after the death of his favourite daughter,
he never recovered his spirits. He died of an
ague, on the 3rd of September, 1658.

13. His son, Bichard, was acknowledged as
Protector, but he had hitherto lived a quiet country
life, and had not his father's strength of will and
force of hand. He felt unequal to his position, and,
in less than a year, he resigned the Protectorship
and went back to his quiet life.

14. The officers of the army now called to-
gether the remains of the old Long Parlianient,
forty-two in number, to decide what was next to
be done ; but the army and the Parliament found
it as impossible to agree as it had been before
Cromwell took the lead. In the meantime
George Monk, one of the generals, wrote to the
young Charles in Holland, offering his support
provided the King would promise a general
pardon, and likewise toleration, that is, that no
one should be persecuted for his faith.

15. Charles sent from Breda a declaration of
his intentions. This satisfied the army, and a new
House of Commons which had been elected. It
was voted that the Government ought to consist of
King, Lords, and Commons, and in 1660, Charles
II. was invited to return.

124 REIGN OF CHARLES IL

i»

Persons: Oliver Cromwell— John Bradshaw— Charles II.

— The Princess Elizabeth — Van Tromp — Robert Blake

— Barebone's Parliament — Richard Cromwell — Georg^e
Monk.

Places • Ireland— Jamaica.

Dates : Battle of Worcester, 1651- Death of Oliver Crom-
well, 1658— Declaration of Breda, x66a

XXIX. THE RESTORATION.

1. Charles 11. rode into London with his two
brothers, James, Duke of York, and Henry, Duke
of Gloucester, on the 29th of May, 1660. The
streets were full of people, and they showed such
delight that he declared he could not think why
he had remained away so long, since everyone
seemed so glad to see him. One regiment of the
old army was made the King's guard and was
never disbanded, and this was the first beginning
of our standing army. A standing army is a
body of men specially trained and maintained
for warlike purposes, and making war their whole
profession.

2. There was great thankfulness on the part of
good men that the Restoration had been brought
about without shedding any blood. Charles, how-
ever, excepted from his pardon the men who had
actually condemned his father to death, and who
were called the regicides or * king-killers.' Fourteen
were executed, and the bodies of Cromwell and

MILTON AND BUNYAN. 125

Bradshaw were taken from their graves and hanged
on Tyburn gallows.

3. Some of the leaders of Commonwealth times
were imprisoned and others fled to America.
Cromwell's secretary, John Milton, had in his early
youth written those charming verses, the Allegro
and Penseroso. In the disturbed times, he had
chiefly been busied on political papers, but after
the Restoration he lost his sight, and spent his
time in dictating to his daughters his two great
poems, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.

4. The .bishops and clergy who had been
driven out by the Long Parliament were restored
to their sees and parishes. All ministers were called
upon to conform to the Prayer-Book, and such as
refused to do so were turned out of the livings that
they held. They were not allowed to hold meetings
of more than five persons for praying and preaching
even outside a church, and those who went to such
meetings were fined or imprisoned, which was not
according to the King's promise of toleration.
John Bnnyan, a tinker, wrote the Pilgrim's Pro^
gress while thus imprisoned.

5. The King was of a very easy, careless
nature, loving pleasure and amusement more than
anything else, and, as he said, resolved on one thing,
that he would never have to go on his travels
again. He was very clever, witty, and good-
natured, but he hated trouble and was easily led.
The description of him was very true which was
chalked on his door by one of his friends : —

126 REIGN OF CHARLES 11.

Here lies our sovereign lord the King,
Whose word no man relies on,

Who never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one.

6. Charles's youngest brother, Henry, died of
small-pox soon after his return. The other brother,
James, Duke of York, had married Anne Hyde,
the daughter of Charles's minister. Lord Clarendon.

7. The Duke of York and Prince Rupert beat
the Dutch in a great sea fight near Lowestoft in
1665 ; but that year was a very sad one, for London
was visited by a most dreadful attack of the deadly
sickness called the Plague. Numbers fled, and
each house that was infected was fastened up, with
a red cross marked in chalk on the door. No one
was allowed to go in or out, except persons ap-
pointed to bring food or medicine to the sick.
Carts went along the streets at nights, the drivers
ringing a bell, and calling ' bring out your dead.'
The corpses were thrown into pits without any
burial service.

8. Whole rows of houses were left empty, and
the grass began to grow in the streets ; indeed
100,000 people are said to have died before the
weather became colder, and thus checked the
disease. Without doubt it was in great part
caused by the dirt in the old houses, and the
narrowness of the streets.

9. Therefore, the Great Fire which broke out in
the City of London the next year, though it seemed

THE FIRE OF LONDON. 127

a great misfortune, was really a great benefit. It
began on the 2nd of September, 1666, in a baker's
shop near the river, and, after raging for four days,
was only stopped near the Temple by the blowing
up of houses, by orders of the King and the Duke of
York, who did all in their power to save life and
stop the mischief.

ID. St. Paul's Cathedral, the Royal Exchange,
the Guildhall, and eighty-nine parish churches were
burnt down by this fire, which curiously enough
began at Pie Corner and ended at Pudding Lane.
The people fancied that the fire had been the
work of Roman Catholics, and they even caused
an inscription to that effect to be placed on the
Monument, which was set up in memory of the
fire, and of which the poet, Alexander Pope (him-
self a Roman Catholic), wrote,

London's tall column, pointing to the skies,
Like a tall bully, lifts its head and lies.

11. Peace was offered to Holland, but while
negotiations were being concluded, and the English
thought the war over, the Dutch fleet suddenly
sailed up the Medway and burnt Chatham dock*
yard.

12. However, peace was made the next year,
but there was so much discontent against Lord
Clarendon that he gave up the Ministry and left
England. In his retirement, he wrote a full
History of the Rebellion and of his own time, with
descrfptions of all the principal people.

t2S

REIGN OF CHARLES 11.

P.rsimi : Charles II.— Jflmes. Duke of York— John MitUm
— John Bunjan — Lord Clarendon.

Dalis: Accessign of Charles II., iti6o— The PlaguCi KMs
—The Great Fire, 1666.

[THE DUTCH FLEttT II

THE OLD CAVALIER. 129

XXX. THE OLD CAVALIER.

(The Cavaliers who had fought for the King were much dis-
Ajppoiiited in Charles II., who neglected them much, and lived so
tvil a life. This- poem expresses the feelings of one of these gentle-
who naturally felt strongly against the Parliamentary party.)

For our martyr'd Charles I pawned my plate,

For his son I spent my all,
That a churl might dine, and drink my wine,

And preach in my father's hall.
That father died on Marston Moor,

My son on Worcester plain.
But the King he turned his back on me
'" When he got his own again.

I now am poor and lonely.

This cloak is worn and old,
But yet it warms my loyal heart

Through sleet, and rain, and cold,
When I call to mind the Cavaliers,

Bold, Rupert at their head.
Bursting through blood and fire, with cries

That might have waked the dead.

Then spur and sword was the battle word

And we made their helmets ring,
Howling, like madmen, all the time
For God and for the King.
ff. IV. I

Ijo REJGN OF CHARLES II.

And though they snuffled Psalms, to give

The rebel dogs their due,
When the roaring shot poured close and hot

They were stalwart men and true.

On the fatal field of Naseby,

When Rupert lost the day,
By hanging on the flying crowd

Like a lion on his prey,
I stood and fought it out until,

In spite of plate and steel,
The blood that left my veins that day

Flowed up above my heel.

And certainly it made those quail

Who never quailed before.
To look upon the awful front

Which Cromwell's horsemen wore,
I felt that every hope was gone

When I saw their squadrons form,
And gather for the final charge

Like the coming of the storm.

Oh, where was Rupert in that hour

Of danger, toil, and strife }
It would have been to all brave men

Worth a hundred years of life,
To have seen that black and gloomy force

As it poured down in line,
Met midway by the Royal horse

And Rupert of the Rhine.

THE CABAL. 131

All this is over now, and I

Must travel to the tomb,
Though the King I served has got his own.

In poverty and gloom.
Well, well, I served him for himself.

So I must not now complain.
But I often wish that I had died

With my son on Worcester plain.

Sir Francis Hastings Dovle.
(Abridged. )

XXXI. THE PAPIST AND RYE-HOUSE

PLOTS.

1. The Ministry that succeeded that of Cla-
rendon was called the Cabal, because that word
can be formed from the initials of the members of
it, Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and
Lauderdale. They began another war with Spain,
with Sweden and Holland for allies, to keep down
the power of Louis XIV., King of France.

2. However, Charles's youngest sister, Hen-
rietta, had married the French King's brother, and
she was sent to persuade her brother to change his
mind, and to offer pensions to him and to his chief
advisers, if they would join with France. Charles
and his friends agreed to all that was proposed,
and the King even promised to declare himself a
Roman Catholic, as he was already at heart. Louis

was to help him with troops in case his people should

I 2

132 REIGN OF CHARLES II.

rise against him in consequence, but this article
was, of course, kept secret.

3. Charles II. did not dare to avow his real
belief, but the Duke of York, who was always the
more honest of the two, openly joined the Church
of Rome, and so did his wife, Anne Hyde ; but
their two daughters, Haiy and Anne, held fast to
the English Church, and Mary soon after married
her cousin, William, Prince of Orange, the son of
Charles I.'s daughter Mary, and the chief enemy of
Louis XIV.

4. The country was in a very uneasy state.
The King and his Queen, Catherine of Portugal,
had no child, and there was much distress at his
next heir being a Romanist. People were (as we
have seen by their notion about the Fire of London)
ready to believe anything against the Romanists,
and an idea went abroad that there was a plot for
murdering the King, in order to set the Duke of
York on the throne.

5. A wicked clergyman, named Titus Oates,
pretended to have been told all the plot, and went
to a magistrate to make a declaration of what he
knew. Soon afterwards, this magistrate was killed
by some ruffians. No one knows who they were, or
why it was done, but, of course, it was supposed
that the Papists did it, and at the funeral, the
clergyman, who preached, had a man with a loaded
pistol standing on each side, to protect him.

6. Everybody was wild "wvth fear about this
Popish plot Only the King \a\ig\ve^>vi€\\;xv^^iwM|,

THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT. 133

that he was as much liked as his brother was dis-
liked : * Nobody would kill me to make James King,*
he said ; but he let the people do as they pleased, and
Titus Oates was impudent enough to accuse not
only the Queen's doctor, but Queen Catherine her-
self, of meaning to poison the King.

7. The King stopped the wretch when he had
gone as far as this, but numbers of people were
thrown into prison on these charges, and fifteen
were even put to death, though there really never
was any Popish plot at all.

8. One good thing was done at this time. In
the Parliament of 1679 ^^ Act was passed forbid-
ding the keeping people in prison without a trial,
or with the sentence not executed, as had been
done with Raleigh and Eliot. This is called the act
of Habeas Corpus, because the first words mean in
Latin ' If thou hast his body.'

9. There was all this time much disturbance in
Scotland. Charles had renewed the attempt to
make the people accept the Prayer-Book, and place
their Church under bishops, but the Covenanters
were resolved against these changes. They were
harshly used, and in their rage they shot the newly
appointed Archbishop Sharpe. Soldiers were sent
under Colonel Graham of Claverhouse, who treated
them savagely, and they rose in rebellion, but
were beaten at Bothwell Bridge in 1679, and then
Claverhouse's troopers persecuted them cruelly,
shooting down those whom they ca^tute.d ^

preachings among the moors, ot ^2l^Kavg, ^€\t

134 REIGN OF CHARLES II.

ministers to Edinburgh, where they were tortured
and hanged for their resistance to the law.

ID. Half the nation wanted to shut out James
from succeeding to the Crown, and to guard what-
ever freedom they had gained. They were called
by the nickname of Whigs. This word came from
Scotland, and is said to mean ' sour buttermilk/ or,
as some say, the word was really Whigamore, and
meant ' a driver of horses.* It was given because
the Scots Covenanters were many of them farmers
and country people.

11. The other half of the nation were resolved
to uphold the King's power at all costs, whatever
he might do, and were afraid that a bad use might
be made of liberty ; and they thought that nothing
ought to put the natural heir out of the line of
succession. These were nicknamed Tories, from
an Irish word for robbers, because all the Irish
Romanists, of course, wished James to be their
King.

12. At this very time likewise the French
King was trying to force all his Protestant subjects
to join his Church, and using them so cruelly that
many families fled, and made new homes in Eng-
land, where there was a great subscription for them.
Many of them, who were silk-weavers, settled in
Spitalfields, and carried on their trade for many
years there.

13. There was a lady named Lucy Waters, who
declared that Charles II. had married her while
he was in exile, and that their son was the right

THE RYEHOUSE PLOT. 135

heir to the crown. Charles had made him Duke
of Monmouth, and married him to a great Scottish
heiress. He was a Protestant, and many persons
hoped that he might be King.

14. A bill was brought into Parliament to shut
out Roman Catholics from the throne, but it was
not passed. Then some of the chief Whig leaders
began to hold consultations as to what way they
should take of hindering James from doing harm,
or else of giving the Crown either to the Duke
of Monmouth or to the Prince and Princess of
Orange.

15. Some wild bad men of the party meant to
hide themselves in a barn called the Byehouse and
shoot the King and the Duke of York on their way
to the Newmarket races. One, however, informed
against the rest, and all the gentlemen who had been
planning against the Duke were accused of being
concerned in it, though most of them had never
known of the murderous part of the scheme.

16. Monmouth and some of the plotters fled to
Holland, but the others were arrested and tried.
William, Lord Bussell, the Earl of Essex, and
Algernon Sydney, were all condemned to die.
Lord Russell's wife, Lady Rachel, sat by him and
wrote like a clerk for him all through his trial, and
comforted him nobly till he went forth to his
death.

17. Charles went on with his easy, careless,
vicious life till he was suddenly struck with apo-
plexy, and lay dying so many hours, that, with his

136 REIGN OF CHARLES II.

usual habit of good nature, he begged his people's
pardon for being so long in dying. At the
last, he was secretly received into the Church of
Rome by the priest whose book had converted
him, though he never had spoken the truth about it
all these years. He died in the year 1685, having
reigned twenty-five years, and having done much
harm by his bad example.

Persons : The Cabal— Louis XIV. of France— The Duke
and Duchess of York —Mary and Anne, daughters of the
Duke of York— William, Prince of Orange— Titus Oates/—
Archbishop Sharpe — Colonel Graham of Claverhouse — The
Whigs— The Tories— The Duke of Monmouth— William,
Lord Russell.

Dates: Battle of Bothwell Bridge and Act of Habeas
Corpus, 1679— Death of Charles II., 1685.

XXXII. THE REVOLUTION.

1. James 11. was at once owned as King in 1685,
but the Duke of Monmouth thought he had a party
strong enough to overthrow his uncle. He was to
raise the people in England, and the Duke of
Argyle was to call up those in Scotland, but the
latter was seized immediately on his landing, and
put to death.

2. Monmouth landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire,
and was greeted by many as the true King James
H., numerous persons gathering round him as he

ACCESSION OF JAMES IL 137

went on into Somersetshire. At Taimtony twenty-
seven little girls from a young ladies' school met
him and presented him with a Bible and a banner,
and he was so graceful and courteous that all were
charmed with him.

3. The army, however, stood firm by the King,
and under Lord Feversham and Oenexal Clmrcliill
marched against Monmouth. Neither the Duke
nor his people knew much about war, and in the
battle of Sedgemoor they were totally defeated
and dispersed. Monmouth fled into Hampshire on
foot, and was taken there, hiding in a ditch, in a
labourer's coat, half starved, and with only a few
dried peas in his pocket.

4. He was taken to London, where he begged
hard to speak with his uncle ; and James saw him,
but was resolved not to forgive him, and would not
listen to his promises, and he was executed. James
was a grave, stem, unforgiving man, who thought
that his father had been ruined by not being
severe enough, and he would show no mercy.

5. Unhappily there was then a most wicked
Judge named JefBreys, and he was sent to try the
rebels, while Colonel Kirke, with some savage
soldiers, hunted them out Some were shot, or
died under Kirke*s cruelty, others were brought
before Jeffreys, who ordered great numbers of them
to be hanged. A good old lady in Hampshire,
nahied Alice Lisle, respected by everyone, was
hanged for having sheltered a rebel in her house for
one night. The only way in which it was possible

RFIGN OF JAMES II.

for anyone to escape was to giv.e a heavy bribe to
the judge.

6. The poor Uttle

at Taunton were all

THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 139

thrown into prison, where one of them died of fright
at the judge's terrible voice and scowl. They were
only set free when their parents had paid what
amounted to ;^7,ooo as fines for them. Judge
Jeffreys* father was so much ashamed of him that
he refused to see him, and yet the King made him
Lord Chancellor.

7. James was putting Roman Catholics into
every place of trust, though this was in violation of
a law passed in his brother's time and called the
Test Act, which required all magistrates and
members of Parliament to be communicants qf the
Church of England.

8. In 1687, he issued a declaration that there
were henceforth to be no fines or other penalties
for those who did not belong to the Church of
England, and all clergymen were required to read
it from their pulpits. Now, though toleration is
wise and right in itself, the King had no power
to change the law without his Parliament, and
besides, everyone knew that he was only doing
this for the sake of the Roman Catholics, and that
he really hated the other Nonconformists, while he
seemed to be benefiting them.

9. Therefore, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Bancroft, and six more Bishops would not send
orders to their clergy to read the declaration, and
wrote a letter to the King, explaining their reasons.
It was a very respectful letter, but James and his
judges said it was a libel and sent the seven
Bishops to the Tower, to be tried.

HO REIGN OF JAMES 21.

10. As they went, the people in the streets fell
down on their knees to ask their blessing. So
did the sentinels who guarded them, and the heart
of the whole country was with them. They
were tried in Westminster Hall, and were fully
acquitted. Never was there such rejoicing : bon-
fires were lighted everywhere, seven candles were
placed in every window, and the shouts even of
the soldiers were so loud that the King heard
them in Whitehall, and said, ' So much the worse
for them.*

11. All this time, the hope of the people was
in the future, as the King's two daughters, Mary
and Anne, were both Protestants, and so were
their husbands. Their mother, Anne Hyde, was
dead, and the King had married an Italian wife,
Mary Beatrice of Este, whose children had hitherto
died as soon as they were born, but in the midst
of the excitement about the Bishops, she gave birth

' to a living and healthy son.

12. The birth of this child caused great dismay.
Numbers of people did not scruple to say that it
was all a cheat, and that he was not the Queen's
child at all. Even those who knew that this was
an absurd fancy were filled with alarm at the ex-
pectation of the reign of one bred up as was sure
to be the case with this little James Francis.

13. William, Prince of Orange, had been all
this time on the watch. Not only was he the
husband of James's eldest daughter; but he was
the next heir after the children of James, being

THE ENGLISH REVOLUTIOM 14 1

the son of Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I. He
was a cool, wary, prudent man, with a dry stiff
manner, and had all his life been defending the
Dutch against Louis XIV., the friend of James.

14. He took this opportunity for landing at Tor*,
bay with a chosen army composed of Dutch troops
and Scottish and English exiles, and published a
declaration that he had. come to redress the wrongs
of the nation and protect their faith. Crowds
flocked to him. The King waited in doubt, but
soon sent away his wife and child to France for
safety ; and it was time, for one officer after another
left James's army to join William, and the King
found it vain to attempt to defend himself.

15. His daughter Anne and her husband de-
serted him, and, in his grief and despair, he left
London, throwing the Great Seal into the Thames ;
but he was seized on the way, and brought back
again. The Prince of Orange, however, did not
wish to keep him, and took care that he should be
allowed to escape a second time. Louis XIV.
received him most kindly, gave him the palace of
St. Germain to live in, and undertook to do his
utmost to recover his crown for him. Thus took
place what is called the English Bevolution of 1688.

Persons: James II. — The Dukes of Monmouth and Argyle
— Lord Fevcrsham — General Churchill— Judge Jeffreys —
Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury— Mary Beatrice of Este
—Prince James Francis— William, Prince of Orange— Mary,
his wife— The Princess Anne— Louis XIV. of France.

Dates: Accession of James II., and battle of Sedgemoor,
1685- The English Revolution, x688.

142 REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY.

XXXIII. WILLIAM III. AND MARY II.

1. James II. having fled, the Parliament, after
some disputing, offered the Crown to William,
Prince of Orange, and Mary his wife, giving him all
the power as King, although the figure of Mary's
head was placed together with his upon the coins. It
was further enacted that no Romanist, nor person
married to a Romanist, should ever reign in England,
and that the Sovereign had no right to set aside
the laws, but must always act with the consent of
Parliament.

2. Queen Mary came to join her husband. She
was a grand-looking stately lady, and was far
better liked than her husband, who was a foreigner
in all his ways, and had shy, rude, reserved
manners. He was an able, active general, though
his health was very bad : he suffered constantly
from asthma, and looked like a living skeleton.
Mary was devoted to him, and was called by the
Tories too bad a daughter and too good a wife,
since she was thought to show little feeling for
her father. Indeed, when she sent to ask Arch-
bishop Sancroft's blessing, he bade her first seek
that of her father.

3. A new oath of allegiance was drawn up, but
many of those who had sworn fealty to James II.
thought that their first oath would be broken if

THE JACOBITES. 143

they swore to another King in the lifetime of the
first. Among these were the Archbishop and seven
more Bishops, four of them, like himself, being the
same who had so bravely withstood James's un-
lawful measures. After waiting to see whether they
would change their opinion as to their duty, they
were deprived of their sees, and 400 clergy also left
their parishes on the same grounds. They were
called Hon-jnrors, that is, * not- swearers.*

4. The terms of the British Constitution may
then be said to have been fully fixed. Every law
is made by consent of the Commons, who are elected
by the counties and the borough towns ; of the
Peers, who inherit>their rights, or have them given
for their services ; and of the Sovereign. When all
have consented, the measure is an Act of Parlia-
ment and is Law; while only under consideration
it is called a Bill. Only the Commons can deal
with money matters.

5. The persons who still held by King James
and were ready to fight in his cause were called
Jacobites, from Jacobus^ the Latin form of his
name. Among them were all the Scots who were
not Covenanters. They rose, under Graham of
Claverhouse, to whom James had given the title
of Visconnt Dnndee, and they defeated the King's
troops at the pass of Killiecrankie ; but Dundee
was killed in the moment of victory, and the Scots
were disheartened and returned to their homes.

6. A day was fixed for the Highland chiefs
to come to Edinburgh and swear allegiance to

144 REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY.

William, and most of them did so, but one^Hacdonald
of Olencoe, was delayed. His enemies took advan-
tage of this, and persuaded the King to sign an
order for his punishment Then Captain Campbell,
an old enemy of Macdonald, with 120 soldiers,
marched to Glencoe. After a peaceable stay of
twelve days, they fell on the unhappy chief and
his family and clan, killing every creature, man,
woman, and child. This was the dreadful Massacre
of Glencoe.

7. King James, with the help promised him by
Louis XIV., landed in Ireland, and was eagerly
welcomed by the Roman Catholics, but the
northern province, Ulster, had^beeri filled with
Protestants by Elizabeth, JamesJ and Cromwell,
and they — especially the people of Londonderry —
were resolved to hold out against James.

8. There were so few soldiers in Londonderry
that their commander would not have held out, but
the apprentice-boys shut the gates of the town with
their own hands, and the townsmen took up the
defence, under the command of a clergyman named
Walker. King Jaihes himself blockaded the place,
and tjjere was such dreadful hunger there that
dogs, cats, horses, tallow, and starch were eaten
up, while the starving people could see the English
fleet in Lough Foyle laden with provisions, but not
daring to come in ; till at last a great effort was
made, the ships forced their way in, and the patient
people were relieved after having held out for
105 days.

THE WAR WITH FRANCE. 145

9. King James went back to Dublin and held an
Irish Parliament there, but in 1690 William himself
landed in Ireland, and on the ist of July the two
Kings, father-in-law and son-in-law, fought the great
battle of the Boyne, in which William was slightly
wounded, but gained a complete victory. James
fled to Dublin, and thence to Waterford, where he
embarked for France. Limerick held out for him
for a year, but was forced at last to vield to
William's forces.

10. The French fleet, however, defeated the
English off* Beachy Head. It was thought that this
was because the English Admiral Herbert was
secretly a Jacobite, and he was dismissed from the
service. However, Admiral Russell x^^A^ up for this
defeat by giving the French fleet a most severe
beating off" Cape La Hogne, just as James was going
to embark in it to invade England. The battle
lasted five days, and he watched it all the time.
Having been a commander at sea himself, he could
not help crying out with pride, * See my brave
English sailors.'

11. It was after this battle that Queen Mary
founded Oreenwich Hospital for disabled sailors
of the royal navy ; just as her uncle, Charles II.,
had founded Chelsea Hospital for old soldiers.

12. Mary managed the government when her
husband was away. They had an anxious reign,
for it was hard to tell whom to trust. A set of
statesmen had grown up who had very little honour
or virtue, and cared chiefly for their own safety

H. IV. K

146 REIGN OF WILLIAM IIL

and interest; and as no one could then guess
whether James might not come back, persons, who
outwardly served William were really writing to
assure James of their friendship and support.

13. It was a great shock when Queen Mary II.
died of the small-pox in 1694. Her husband had
been cold and neglectful of her at times, but he
was in an agony of grief at her death, and she was
mourned for by almost all the nation. She left no
children, and this v/as considered by the country
to be a great misfortune.

Persons: William III. and Mary II. — The Non-jurors—
The Jacobites— Viscount Dundee— Macdonald of Glencoe—
Admiral Herbert— Admiral Russell.

Places : Killiecrankie— Londonderry — Limerick — Beachy
Head— Cape La Hogue — Greenwich Hospital — Chelsea
Hospital

Dates: Accession of William and Mary, 1688— Battle of
the Bojrne, 1690— Death of Queen Mary II., t^\.

XXXIV. THE WAR OF THE SPANISH

SUCCESSION.

I. William III. was to go on reigning, though
his wife was dead ; next to him Anne, the other
daughter of James II., was to reign. She was mar-
ried to George, a son of the King of Denmark, a very
dull, helpless man, who was declared never to say
anything but * Is it possible ? ' (in French) whenever
anything was told to him. All her children died in
infancy except one son, William, Duke of Glou-
cester, who was looked on as the future King, until
he also died when he was seven years old, in 1700.

THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT 147

2. Then it had to be considered who should
reign after the Princess Anne. William III. was an
only child, and the children of Charles I.'s daughter
Henrietta Stewart were Roman Catholics. So in
1 70 1 the ParHament passed on to the numerous
family of Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of James I. ;
but most of these were dead, and their children
had become Romanists. There only remained the
youngest daughter, Sophia, who had married a Ger-
man prince, the Duke of Brunswick and Elector of
Hanover, and to her and her son Oeorge the crown
was to descend after the Princess Anne. This was
called the Act of Settlement.

3. In the meantime a great European war was
about to begin. King Charles II. of Spain was
the last man of his family, and as his sisters and aunts
had married into the royal lines of Austria and of
France, the heir was to be found in one of these
families. The really direct heir was the Dauphin,
but the other nations of Europe — who were already
much afraid of France becoming too powerful —
would not suffer Spain to be joined with it. So
the Dauphin gave up his claims in favour of his
second son, Philip ; and when in 1700 Charles died,
his will named this same Philip as his heir.

4. However, this was almost as much for the
advantage of France as if the Dauphin himself had
succeeded. Indeed, when Louis XIV. saluted his
grandson as Philip IV. of Spain, he said, * There
are no more Pyrenees,' meaning there was no barrier
between the two countries. Now, the grandmother

148 REIGN OF WILLIAM IIL

of Philip had renounced all her claims to Spain
when she was married, but the wife of the Emperor,
who was a younger sister, had not done so. There-
fore, the Emperor declared his own second son, the
Archduke Charles, to have the best right.

5. William III. promised the Emperor to take
Charles's part. He was the more angry with Louis
XIV. because, when James II. died in 1701, the
French King had acknowledged the Prince of
Wales, or, as the Whigs called him, the Pretender,
as James IIL the only true King of England.

6. However, before the war began, while
William was riding out from his palace at
Hampton Court, his horse trod into a mole-hill,
stumbled, and threw him. His collar-bone was
broken, and this, in his weak state of health, caused
his death in the year 1702. No one had much
liked him, but he had been a very wise and able
King, very patient, strong and prudent. The
Jacobites, who hated him, used to drink the health
of 'the little gentleman in a black velvet coat,'
meaning the mole which had caused his death.

XXXV. THE WAR OF THE SPANISH
SUCCESSION (continued).

I. Queen Anne was at once crowned. She
was a very good, pious, well-meaning woman, but
very slow, dull, and ignorant, and her husband.
Prince George of Denmark, was not likely to help

ACCESSION OF ANNE, 149

her. From her childhood she had been led by
her greatest friend, Sarah Jennings, a clever, high-
spirited girl, who had married General Churchill,
the greatest captain in Europe, and a good-natured
and kind-hearted man, who would deserve much
admiration if it had not been for his double dealing
ways under James and William.

2. The title of Earl of Marlborough had been
given to Churchill, arid he was sent out to take the
command of the army. The French had begun to
invade Germany, Marlborough joined the Austrian
army under Prince Eugene of Savoy, and in 1704
at Blenheim, in Bavaria, gave the French a
thorough defeat, taking their general and i,2CX)
officers prisoners.

3. The same year Admiral Rooke took from
the Spaniards the fortress of Gibraltar, which the
English have kept ever since, because it guards
the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. The
Archduke Charles meant to try to win Spain, and
the Earl of Peterborough was sent to fight for him.
They took the city of Barcelona, and subdued all
the eastern part of Spain, but Charles's German
officers were tardy and timid. Lord Peterborough
was hot and fiery, they quarrelled, he was recalled,
and nothing went well with the Archduke after-
wards. The English army in Spain was com-
manded by a French exiled Protestant noble, who
had been made Earl of Oalway, when they were
defeated by the French, under the Duke of Berwick,
a Jacobite exile, and thus on the only occasion in

ISO REIGN OF ANNE.

this war when the victory was against the British,
it was when the French were commanded by an
Englishman, and the EngHsh by a Frenchman.

4. The Netherlands belonged to Spain, but
Louis XIV. much wished for land there, and sent
his armies to win it. But over them Marlborough
and Eugene won very great victories — namely, those
of Samillies, Oudenarde, and Halplaquet. They also
besieged Lille, and many other cities. The French
were very brave, and had excellent leaders, but no
one could stand against the skill of Marlborough.
He was so courteous that all the other commanders,
his allies, respected and loved him. He took great
care of his soldiers, and always was careful of the
wounded. Thus he carried all before him, France
was quite broken down and worn out, and he was
nearly ready to march to Paris.

5. There was, however, a great change taking
place at home, and it was chiefly his wife's fault
She and the Queen had always been such friends
that they laid aside their titles and called each
other Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman ; but the
Duchess of Marlborough was a proud, passionate
woman, and the Queen's" favour and her husband's
greatness so puffed her up, that she scolded and
domineered over her mistress till there was no
bearing it any longer. When the Queen went in
state to St. Paul's to give thanks for the victory at
Oudenarde, she was in tears because the Duchess
had been scolding her for altering the arrangement
of her jewels.

THE PEACE OF UTRECHT.

■5'

6. The Queen then poured out her griefs to
Kt8. Hasham, a poor cousin of the Duchess. This
lady brought in secretly a gentleman named
Harley, to whom the Queen gave her confidence.
He was a Tory, and was inclined to pity the state
of France, and to think the war had gone far
enough, and Anne was ready to do anything to be
free of the Duchess, So Marlborough, in the
height of his glory, was forbidden to do any more,
peace was made, and as the Archduke Charles lost
his elder brother and became Emperor, he gave
up his claims on Spain, and the War of the Spanish
Succession was ended by the Peace of Utreobt, in
the year 17 13. Marlborough was most ungratefully
treated, he was accused of having misused the
public money, and was obliged to go into exile
until Queen Anne's reign was over.

[ORLEANS HOUSE,

T52 REJGN OF ANNE.

Persons: Queen Anne— Prince George of Denmark-
Sophia, Electress of Hanover— Her son George— Philip IV.
of Spain— The Archduke Charles— The Pretender— The
Duke of Marlborough— Prince Eugene of Savoy— The Eari
of Peterborough— The Earl of Galway— The Duke of Ber-
VTick— Mrs. Masham— Harley.

DaUs: Act of Settlement, 1701— Death of William III.,
1702— Battle of Blenheim and Capture of Gibraltar, 1704 —
Peace of Utrecht, 1713.

XXXVI. THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM.

It was a summer evening.

Old Kaspar*s work was done.
And he, before his cottage door,

Was sitting in the sun,
While by him sported on the green.
His little grandchild, Wilhelmine.

She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round,

Which he beside the rivulet,
In playing there had found.

He came to ask what he had found,

That was so large and smooth and round.

Old Kaspar took it from the boy.

Who stood expectant by,
And then the old man shook his head,

And with a natural sigh,
* Tis some poor fellow's skull,' said he,
* Who fell in the great victory?

THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 153

* I find them in the garden,

For there's many hereabout,
And often, when I go to plough,

The ploughshare turns them out :
For many thousand men, ' said he,

* Were slain in that great victory.*

' Now tell us what 'twas all about,'

Young Peterkin, he cries.
And little Wilhelmine looks up

With wonder-waiting eyes ;

* Now tell us all about the war.

And what they fought each other for.*

* It was the English,' Kaspar cried,

* Who put the French to rout,
But what they fought each other for

I could not well make out,
But everybody said,' quoth he,

* It was a famous victory.

* My father lived at Blenheim then.

Yon little stream hard by,
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,

And he was forced to fly.
So with his wife and child he fled.
Nor had he where to lay his head.

* With fire and sword the country round

Was wasted far and wide,
And many an ailing mother there
And new-born baby died.

154 REIGN OF ANNE.

But things like that you know must be
At every famous victory.

* They say it was a shocking sight,

After the fight was won,
For many thousand bodies there,

Lay rotting in the sun.
But things like that you know must be
After each famous victory.

' Great praise the Duke of Malbro* won,
And our good Prince Eugene.*

* Why 'twas a very wicked thing,'

Said little Wilhelmine.

* Nay, nay, my little girl,' quoth he,

* It was a famous victory.

* And everybody praised the Duke,

Who the great fight did win ! *

* But what good came of it at last ? *

Quoth little Peterkin.

* Nay, that I cannot tell,' said he,

* But 'twas a famous victory.'

Robert Southey.

XXXVII. THE UNION OF ENGLAND

AND SCOTLAND.

I. While the War of the Spanish Succession
was going on the Queen's ministers were Whigs.
In the year 1707 the Union of England and Scotland

UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 155

took place. Ever since James VI. of Scotland had
become King of England, 105 years before, the
two countries had had the same King, and yet they
had been separate kingdoms, each with a Parlia-
ment of its own ; one meeting at Edinburgh, and
the other in London.

2. By the Union the two Parliaments were joined
together, so that the Scottish members for counties
and towns had to come and sit at Westminster in
the English House of Commons, and the Scottish
peers chose sixteen of their number to represent
them in the English House of Lords. The Union
was a very good thing for Scotland, which has
prospered greatly ever since, but at first many
persons disliked it extremely, and it made many
Scots become Jacobites in the hope of getting
a king and kingdom to themselves.

3. When Queen Anne had quarrelled with the
Duchess of Marlborough and had Tories about her
instead of Whigs, the Jacobites began to have
hopes ; for the Queen was left all alone in the
world. Her husband died in 1708, and she began
to yearn towards her brother in France ; and would
never invite her cousin, the Electress Sophia, to
England, much to the disappointment of that lady,
who reckoned much on being a Queen. However,
she died the year before Queen Anne.

4. Many very able men lived in this reign. Sir
Christopher Wren had planned St. Paul's Cathe-
dral and many churches and public buildings,
instead of those burnt down in the Fire of London,

156 REIGN OF ANNE.

all of them in the old Greek style of building,
which was then more admired than the Gothic.
There were many poets, of whom Alexander Pope
is now the best known ; Jonathan Swift wrote very
droll, but coarse and spiteful, books in mockery
of the Whig Government and of the foolish and
evil habits of the day; and Joseph Addison
set up a magazine called the Spectator^ which
came out twice a week, and in which he and
his friends did their best — sometimes seriously,
sometimes playfully — to raise and improve people's
minds, and to get them out of their bad customs.
Tea and coffee were just coming into use, and the
wits — as the clever men were called — used to meet
at coffee-houses for conversation.

5. None of all this brilliancy came near the
Queen. She hardly ever read anything, and the per-
sons of her court had little occupation as she grew
old except gossip and card-playing, though she was
a kind good woman, as far as she knew how to be,
and nobody wished to do her any harm ; but much
trouble was expected at her death. Her Tory
friends, however, quarrelled in her very presence.
Harley was dismissed ; and she was so frightened
and distressed that she had a fit, and while she lay
speechless and dying, those about her persuaded
her to make a sign that tiie Duke of Shrewsbnry, a
Whig, should take Harley's place.

6. Thus the Whigs took all their measures for
keeping the country quiet before her death, which
took place in August, 1714, They immediately

ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. 157

proclaimed the Elector of Hanover King George I.,
and sent to invite him over ; but he was fifty-four
years old, he liked his home in Germany much better
than England, and would not thrust himself on the
nation unless they were resolved to have him, so
that stwtn weeks passed before he came to London.

7. People were disappointed in him, for he was
a silent, awkward man, and could not speak Eng-
lish, nor did he try to make himself at home. He
had believed cruel stories of his wife, Sophia
Doroihea of Zelle, and kept her shut up in a castle
in Germany, and there was so little to like about
him that it was only the fear of the Stewarts* love
of tyranny and of the Romish Church that kept
the nation firm to him.

8. Young James Stewart had only waited for
his sister's death to claim the Crown, hoping that
she would name him as her heir. Old Louis XIV.
promised help, but he had reigned seventy years —
through five English reigns — and he died during the
winter that followed the death of Queen Anne.
However, the Scots who hated the Union, and the
English Jacobites, who were very strong in the
north, resolved to make a rising in favour of the
heir of the Stewarts.

9. In September, 17 15, the Earl of Mar and
the Highland chiefs raised 10,000 men in this cause
and marched to Perth. At the same time the
Earl of Derwentwater raised the Jacobites of West-
moreland and the other northern counties. Each
army fought a battle on the same day, the 1 3th of

158 REIGN OF GEORGE I.

November, 171 5. That in Scotland between Mar
and the Duke of Argyle was at Sherriff Mnir, near
Dumblane, and no one could tell who was the
winner, for half of each army was victorious and
the other half ran away; but it did almost as much
harm to the Jacobites as a rout would have done.
ID. At Preston, in Lancashire, Derwentwater
and his friends were so shut in by the Royal troops
that they were forced to surrender. James Stewart,
or, as he was called, the Chevalier de St, George^
came to Scotland when it was too late, but showed
so little spirit, that his adherents were disappointed
in him. He soon returned to France, and his
chief supporters fled and took service abroad.

11. Of the prisoners, twenty-six gentlemen
were tried for treason and executed. There were
also seven noblemen who were tried by their peers
and sentenced to be beheaded. Three of these
were pardoned and two made their escape ; one,
namely the Earl of Nithsdale, by the brave contri-
vance of his wife, who dressed him in her clothes,
so that he safely passed the sentinel, while she re-
mained in his room until the guard was changed,
and then, coming out herself, joined him in a small
lodging the very night before the time fixed for his
execution. There they heard the bell tolling for
the beheading of Lords Derwentwater and Ken-
mare, and after a time they safely escaped to
France.

12. It was in this reign that it was decided
that Parliament must be dissolved and the Com-

HAMPTON COURT PALACE. 159

mons freshly elected once in every seven years, in-
stead of every three years, as it had been fixed under
William III.

Persons: The Electress Sophia— George I.— Sophia Doro-
thea of Zelle— The Chevalier de St George— The Earl of
Mar— The Earl of Derwentwater— The Earl of Nithsdale—
Sir Christopher Wren—Alexander Pope— Jonathan Swift-
Joseph Addison.

Dates: Union of England and Scotland, 1707— Death of
Queen Anne, 1714— Battle of Sheriff Muir, and Surrender at
Preston, 17 15.

XXXVIIL HAMPTON COURT PALACE
IN QUEEN ANNE'S TIME.

Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flowers.
Where Thames with pride surveys his rising towers.
There stands a structure of majestic frame.
Which from the neighbouring Hampton takes its

name.
Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom
Of foreign tyrants and of lords at home.
Here, thou, great Anna, whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes council take and sometimes tea.
Hither the heroes and the nymphs ^ resort,
To taste awhile the pleasures of the court.
In various talk, the instructive hours they passed,
Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last,

* Nymph originally meant a goddess of the mountains, woods,
or waters. It is now applied to a young woman, especially in
poetry.

i6o REIGN OF GEORGE II,

One speaks the glory of the British Queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen.

For lo, the board with cups and spoons is crown'd,

The berries crackle and the mill turns round.

On shining altars of Japan they raise

The silver lamp, the fiery spirits blaze.

From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide,

And China's earth receives the smoking tide.

At once they gratify their scent and taste.

And frequent cups prolong the rich repast —

Coffee, which makes the politician wise.

And see through all things with his half shut eyes.

From the Rape of the Lock, by Pope, a very fair picture of the
solemn frivolity of Queen Anne's Court.

XXXIX. THE WAR OF THE AUS-
TRIAN SUCCESSION.

1. George I. never loved England, and spent
as much time in Hanover as possible. There he
died suddenly in the year 1727. He was succeeded
by his son George XL, who was not much more
English than his father had been. The great Whig
Minister, Sir Sobert Walpole, who had come into
office two years before, could speak neither German
nor French, and the King transacted all his busi-
ness with him 'in bad Latin.

2. The King had a very clever wife, Caroline
of Anspach, who as long as she lived managed his

BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. i6i

court and much of the affairs of the kingdom,
though she was too sensible to put herself too
much forward. They had two sons, Frederick,
Prince of Wales, and William, Duke of Cnmberland,

3. Peace was kept with other countries while
Queen Caroline lived and Walpole was in power,
but she died in 1737, and Walpole's power began to
decline. He was averse to war, though all the nation
was very angry with the Spaniards, who had greatly
misused English sailors on the coast of America.
A man named Jenkyns came home with his ears
cut off, and the rumour was that the Spaniards
had told him to show them to his King and tell
him they were ready to treat him in the same way.

4. Thus a war by sea began with Spain, and
Walpole soon had to resign his office. Another
great European war was beginning, caused by a
dispute whether all the great possessions of the
House of Austria should be inherited by Maria
Theresa, the daughter of the Emperor Charles VI.,
or by the grandson of his elder brother Joseph, the
Elector of Bavaria.

5. The French took the side of the Elector of
Bavaria, and the English that of Maria Theresa.
George II. himself joined his army, and at the
battle of Dettingen, in 1743, fought on foot among
his infantry and gained a complete victory. It
was the last battle in which an English King
fought in person. In 1745, the battle of Fontenoy
was fought, the last in which a French King was
present, but the command of the French army was

II. IV. L

i62 REIGN OF GEORGE II.

really in the hands of MarsJtal Maurice of Sachs,
a German by birth, and the greatest captain of his
time. It was a very fierce and stubborn fight, but
in the end the English were defeated,

6. The Duke of Cumberland had to return home

in haste, for Charles Edward, the eldest son of
James Stewart, had taken advantage of this war
to try his fortune in Scotland, landing with only
seven followers in the summer of 1745. He was
full of spirit, gracious and courteous, and so entirely
wqp the hearts of those wIao camt Tveai \Cvto. •&aB,

PRESTON PANS AND FALKIRK. 163

the Highland chiefs rose eagerly in his cause, and so
suddenly that no one was prepared to meet them.

7. Coming down from the riiountains in large
numbers, the Highlanders entered Perth and
Edinburgh, and proclaimed James VIII, of ScoU
land there, though they never could take the
Castle. They surprised Sir John Cope, the English
general, in his camp at Preston Pans, in the early
morning, and totally routed him.

8. After this, they marched on into England,
J|K3j)ing to be joined by everyone there, but

le sight of the wild plaided Highlanders filled

country people with terror, and very few

itlemen cared to join them, or to break up the

they were enjoying under the House of

fanover. When they reached Derby, Charles

[ward's friends decided on turning back, and very

rillingly he was forced to comply. The Lon-

lers were greatly relieved, for they had been in

it terror, expecting to be plundered by the wild

[Higlilanders.

9. Charles Edward reached Scotland safely
and gained another victory at Falkirk, but he was
attacked by the Duke of Cumberland at Ctilloden
and utterly routed. He was dragged from the
field by some of his friends, while his followers were
savagely slaughtered. The Duke of Cumberland's
troops were chiefly Germans, and they gave no
quarter, but slew even the wounded lying on the
field, and wasted all the country to>\Tv^% 'X^nk^
hunted out every on^ they could fvndN»jVvo\v^.^ Y^vcsrA.

1 64 REIGN OF GEORGE IL

the Prince, killed the men, stripped the women
and children, and burnt the houses, so that Cum-
berland earned for himself the name of tlie
Butcher.

ID. Three noblemen were sent to London and
beheaded, and about a hundred gentlemen were
executed at Carlisle and in other places. Mean-
time Charles Edward wandered in Scotland in
disguise, hidden now in one place, now in another.
Once he spent some weeks in a sort of bower
called the Cagey with some wild outlawed High-
landers, one of whom brought him a piece of
gingerbread as a great treat. He travelled once
in woman's clothes, as Betty Burke, the maid-
servant of a brave young lady named Flora Mac-
donald, and though his wanderings lasted five
weeks, a great price was set on his head, and he
was made known to more than fifty people, no
one betrayed him and he safely embarked in a
French ship.

II. So much was he loved that an old High-
lander with whom he had shaken hands would
never allow his right hand to be touched by any
mean person. The Jacobites never ceased to love
him. They sang songs about him, saying, * Charlie
is my darling, the young Chevalier,' and they would
neither pray for King George nor drink his health.
But now that he had lost all hope of gaining the
kingdom of his ancestors, Charles Edward fell into
vile habits, and became au unworthy man. He
died in J ^88, and his btolVvet \l^Tvt^,\^\va ^^^ ^

PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 165

Cardinal, died at Rome in 1807, having lived on
a pension from our George III. ; and thus ended
the line of Stewart.

12. The Bebellion of 1745, as it was called,
had been of advantage to the French by calling
home the English forces. However, Admirals
Anson and Hawke had won two great victories at
sea, and Anson had, like Drake before him, sailed
round the world to attack the Spanish settlements.
Europe was, however, weary of war, and a general
peace was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 1748.

Persons: George I.— George II.— Caroline of Anspach
— Frederick, Prince of Wales— William, Duke of Cumberland
^Sir Robert Walpole— Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary
—The Elector of Bavaria— Charles Edward, the Young Pre-
tender.

Dates : Accession of George II., 1727— Battles of Dettingen,
1743; Fontenoyand Preston Pans, 1745; Culloden, 1746--
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748.

XL. A TRADITION OF CULLODEN.

They found him on Culloden heath,

A sight for soldiers' tears,
His beauty all too strong for death,

His life but twenty years.
They muttered low, * God send him grace,*

The gory plaid they drew
For corpsehood ^ o'er the fair proud face

And eyes of lustrous blue.

> Coipsefaoodi a covering fox lYie \it^!dk. ol «. cQT^<sft.%

1 66 REIGN OF GEORGE IT.

They bore him past an ancient hall,

Deep set in vernal ^ trees ;
The lady looks o'er the terrace wall,

The heavy sight she sees.
Her only son, in Urquhart Glen,

With kinsmen bides afar.
She will not call him home again
'Till sinks the blast of war.

Her joy is in that precious life.

Fenced round and kept secure.
From gathering clans, and deadly strife,

And dark Drummossie muir.
* Far other weird * was thine, poor youth ; '

She bids the bearers wait.
Her bosom thrills with woman's ruth,^

Her hand unbars the gate.

She looks upon the long bright hair.

And fast her tears overflow :
' Some mother's heart, my darling fair.

Beside thee lieth low.
God's kindness cheer that stricken heart,

He hath been kind to me,
Else haply, e'en as now thou art,

So might my Ronald be.'

Her own soft hands the corpse will streek,*
She draws the plaid away,

> Vernal, growing as in spring. * Weird, destiny.

• Ruth, pity, tenderness. * Streek* stretch, * lay out.'

WILLIAM PITT. 167

Comes ghastly whiteness o'er her cheek,

Her lips are cold as clay.
Ah ! close her arms the dead enfold,

Her lips to his are pressed ;

The mother's heart lies still and cold,

Upon her Ronald's breast.

Canon Bright.

XLI. THE SEVEN YEARS* WAR

1. There were five years of peace between
1748 and 1753. During this time William Pitt,
or, as he was called, tAe Great Commoner^ rose to
have much influence with the people, though
George II. greatly disliked him.

2. Causes of war were, however, growing up
everywhere. The English and French had hated
each other bitterly, ever since the English Revolu-
tion, and Spain was in alliance with France. These
three nations all had large possessions beyond sea.
The Spaniards held great part of South America
and the West Indies ; the French had large settle-
ments in North America and in India; and the
English had colonies in North America, possessed
several West Indian islands, and ever since the
time of Charles II. had been establishing a great
trading company in the East Indies.

3. There were frequent disputes among the
settlers whose lands bordered on one another, and
these at last led to a war. It began badly for

i68 REIGN OF GEORGE II.

England; Minorca was retaken by the Spaniards,
owing, it was thought, to the slackness of Admiral
Byng, who did not bring his fleet to relieve the
garrison, thinking it overmatched by that of the
enemy. For this he was tried by court-martial,
and was shot, lest the example of cowardice should
do harm ; or *to encourage the rest/ as a clever
Frenchman said.

4. In America, where the French were trying
to join their lands in Canada and Louisiana by a
chain of forts, between the rivers Ohio and
Mississippi, General Braddock led a force to attack
them near the Ohio. He was set upon by the
French and the wild Red Indian tribes who served
under them, in a narrow valley covered with forest.
He was defeated with terrible loss ; five horses
were killed under him, and he was so badly
wounded that he died on the way back.

5. Another war had broken out in Europe, be-
tween Maria Theresa and the King of Prussia.
The English and French were as usual on opposite
sides, though they had changed their allies ; George
II. now taking the part of Frederick II. of Prussia,
and Louis XV. of Maria Theresa, whose husband
was now Emperor.

6. The English were much out of spirits, but
Pitt becanie Secretary of State, and everything
went better. A young general, named James
Wolfe, was chosen by him to take the command of
a body of troops in North America. With these
he crossed the river St. Lawrence into the French

THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 169

settlements in Lower Canada. General Montcalm
with a great army was watching to prevent him,
but he took his men over in boats at night, and
climbed the Heights of Abraham, a very steep hill
overhanging the city of Quebec.

7. In the morning, the French found the English
already on the hill. A great battle was fought in
the September of 1759, in which the English
gained a complete victory, and both the generals
were killed. As Wolfe lay under a tree dying,
someone called out * They run, they run ! ' * Who
run } ' he asked. * The French/ he was told ;
then he said, * I die happy.' Montcalm, on the
other hand, was told he had but a few hours to live.
' It is well,* he said, * for I shall not see Quebec
surrendered to the British.*

8. Quebec was surrendered, and though the
French tried to retake it, they could not succeed,
and Canada has ever since belonged to the English.
The Red Indian tribes were allies, some of the
English, some of the French, and they used to fall
on the homesteads of their enemies, burning,
killing, and torturing, so that there was much to
make this war very horrible.

9. In 1756 there had been a great disaster in
India. One of the native Princes, called the Nabob
Snraja Dowlah, had fallen on the small body of
English merchants settled at Calcutta, had seized
the town, and thrust 146 prisoners into a cell
less than twenty feet square, in the very hottest
season. There was only one window, and at the

I70 REIGN OF GEORGE 11.

end of twenty-four hours, only twenty-three
persons remained alive, the dead lying heaped up
below the window. This place was called the
Black Hole of Calcutta.

ID. A young man named Robert dive saved
the fortunes of the East India Company. He
brought together the English, trained the natives
in their service or made alliances with them, and not
only defeated the Hindoo princes, but the French
who set them on to attack the English. In the great
battle of Flassy, in 1757, he routed Suraja Dowlah
and his French allies, he regained Calcutta, and
placed the chief power in Bengal in the hands of
the East India Company of merchants and
traders, who ruled it from their office in London.

1 1. The Duke of Cumberland had led an army
into Germany, but he was turned back by the
French and driven up into a narrow corner between
the river Elbe and the sea, where, to save himself
from being made prisoner, he had to sign a treaty
called the Conventioii of Klosterseven, leaving
Hanover to the French. The King was very
angry and would not confirm the treaty. The Duke
resigned his command, and when he came home
he was received by his father with the words, * Here
IS my son, who has betrayed me and disgraced
himself.'

12. However, in 1760, the English shared in a
great victory gained at Minden, by Prince Fer-
dinand of Brunswick, over the French and their
German allies. It was the last great battle of

ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. 171

the Seven Years' war in which the English were
concerned, though peace was not made for three
more years, and by that time George II. had
died, like his father, very suddenly, in 1760.
His eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, had
died in the year 175 1, very little mourned, for he
was both worthless and ill-tempered ; he was on
bad terms with his parents and did not make him-
self respected by the people.

Persons : WiUiam Pitt— Admiral Byngf— General Braddock
—Queen Maria Theresa— Frederick II. of Prussia— James
Wolfe— General Montcalm— Robert Clive— Frederick, Prince
of Wales— The Duke of Cumberland.

Dates : Battle of Plassy, 1757— Conquest of Canada, 1759
—Battle of Minden and Death of George II., x76a

XLII. THE AMERICAN WAR.

I. The eldest grandson of George 11. was
twenty-two years of age, when, in 1760, he came to
the throne as George m. His mother, Augosta,
Princess of Wales, had trained him carefully, and
he was deeply religious, and thoroughly anxious
to do his duty with an honest heart, and great
firmness of temper. Though he sometimes made
mistakes and held fast to them, it was from want
of judgment, not from selfishness or any meaner
reason. He was born in England too, and loved
England heartily, instead of caring most for
Germany, and in return the great body of his
people loved and honoured him greatly.

i;2

ttEtGN OF GEORGE III.

2. So long as his mother lived she had great
influence over him. She chose his wife for him,
CharloUe of Hecklenbsrg, which is a little duchy in
Germany, The chosen Queen was only about
seventeen, but she had written of her own accord
a letter to the King of Prussia, be^ng him not to

let his troops hurt the poor people in her brother's
country. She used to tell her ladies how she
was told one day that she was to dine at court,
and her brother bade her not to behave like a
child ; her mother also lent her a pair of garnet
earrings. She sat next an English gentleman, and.

DISPUTE WITH AMERICAN COLONIES, 173

trying to talk to him, observed, * They say that
your King is very amiable/ She thought he
smiled a little, and by-and-by she found that she
was to be married immediately to this same young
King!

3. The King and Queen did their best to put
an end to the many evil practices that had become
common in England. The King showed no favour
to any State Minister or member of Parliament who
took bribes, or did not act honestly, and the Queen
would have no lady at court who did not conduct
herself rightly, so that in course of time the whole
tone of the court and country improved very
much.

4. The war in North America had been very
expensive, and it was thought just that the colonists
should help to pay for it, so they were taxed for
this purpose. But the colonists contended that no
place ought to be called upon to pay taxes unless
it had sent a member to the House of Commons to
give his consent to them. Pitt, who had been made
Earl of Chatham, thought there was reason in this,
and tried to hinder the taxing, but he was over-
ruled by the Earl of Bate, who had much influence
with the King.

5. The Americans were very angry. They
resolved to do without the articles that were taxed,
and as tea was among these, a number of young
men, dressed as Red Indians, boarded the tea ships
in Boston Harbour, and threw all the tea into the
sea. Soldiers were sent from England to put down

174 REIGN OF GEORGE III.

the disturbances, but this only angered the colonists
still more. They took up arms in 177S, and be-
sieged the garrison in Boston.

6. The troops tried to break their lines, and
fought the battle of Bnnker^s Hill, just outside the
city. The Americans were beaten, but the English
suffered heavily, and the siege still continued. On
the 4th of July, 1776, representatives from thirteen
American settlements met, and drew up a Dedara-
tion of Independence, by which they cast themselves
loose from the mother country, and declared that
England had no control over them.

7. George Washington, a Virginian gentleman,
became the American commander-in-chief, and
soon showed himself a great general, as spirited as
he was patient. He did not always gain the victory
in his battles, but he was never disheartened, and
in the year 1777 the English General Bnrgoyne
and 10,000 men were taken prisoners.

8. Such a success as this made the French think
it worth while to own the United States of America
to be a separate power, and to send out troops to
help them. This made the war much more serious,
and it was thought that it must be given up, and
that the King must renounce his rights to the
thirteen States.

9. Lord Chatham was old and in bad health.
He would have prevented the war by making terms
with the colonists ; but he could not endure that
England should yield her rights to revolted subjects
in alliance with her old enemy, France. So, feeble

INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 175

as he was, he came down to the House pf Lords to
speak. He made one speech with great force. It
was answered, and he rose to reply, but at that
moment he was seized with a fit He was carried
out of the House insensible, and died a few days
later, in his 70th year.

10. The war went on, sometimes with victory
on one side, sometimes on the other; but the
Spaniards and the Dutch both joined the
Americans and the French, and England stood
alone. The French tried to take Jersey, but were
beaten off by a brave young officer. Major Feirson,
who was killed in the fight ; and the Spaniards for
three whole years besieged Gibraltar, which held
out gallantly under General Elliot, till they were
forced to give up the siege. Moreover, Admiral
Rodney defeated the whole French fleet in the
West Indies, and brought its commander to Eng-
land as a prisoner.

11. However, in 1781 the English army under
Lord Comwallis was obliged to surrender itself to
the allied French and American armies, and it was
decided that no more blood should be shed, but
that George III. should resign the colonies, thence-
forth known as the United States. He said to their
deputies, * I was the last man to acknowledge your
independence, I will be the last man to do anything
to violate it*

12. Peace was finally signed in 1783, and all
the places which England had taken from France
or Spain in the war were restored to them. All

176 REIGN OF GEORGE III.

Canada and the country to the northward still
remained British possessions.

Persons: Gtxx^ III.— Angvsta, Princess of Wales-
Queen Chailotte of Mecklenbnrig^— The Earl of Chatham—
The Earl of Bute— George Washington — General Burgoyne
— Major Peirson— General Elliot— Admiral Rodney.

Dates: Accession of George III., 1760— Battle of Bunker's
Hill» 1775— American * Declaration of Independence,' 1776—
Surrender of General Burgoyne, T777— Surrender of Lord
Comwallis, X78Z.— Independence of United States acknow«
ledged, 1783.

XLIII. THE TIMES OF THE GREAT
FRENCH REVOLUTION.

1. There was a time of peace after the
American War, except that there were still
struggles with the native princes in India, always
ending in success to the English, and the gaining
of more territory for the East India Company.
The Governor, Warren Hastings, was, however,
on his return, impeached before Parliament for
having unjustly enriched himself at the cost of the
natives; and Edmund Bnrke, the greatest orator
England ever produced, spoke most indignantly
against all such oppression.

2. Burke was one of a number of very able men
who were great friends in the earlier half of this reign.
Dr. Samuel Johnson, who wrote a famous English
dictionary, was the greatest scholar and wisest man
among them ; Oliver Goldsmith, an Irish physician.

THE KING'S ILLNESS. 177

was the most noted poet ; Sir Joshua Reynolds was
the best of English portrait painters ; and David
Oarrick was much noted as an actor who brought
out the spirit of Shakespeare's plays.

3. There was, however, much wickedness still
going on. George, Prince of Wales, the eldest of
the fifteen children of George III., was unhappily-
one of the foremost in all that was evil. He was
very handsome, and could put on such manners
that he was called the first gentleman in Europe ;
but he was a most undutiful son, and seemed to
study to do whatever could vex his father most.
His next brother, Frederick, Duke of York, who
was Commander-in-Chief, was not much better,
though he treated his father with more respect.
Charles James Fox was the most witty and bril-
liant of the companions of the Prince. He was the
chief leader of the Whig party, and might have
been a really great man if he had cared more for
virtue and less for pleasure.

4. In 1788 the King had an illness which
affected his mind so much that it was feared that
the Prince of Wales must take the government,
but he recovered, to the great joy of the nation,
though there was always something strange and
quick about his manner. He used to ask questions
too fast for anyone to answer, always ending with
*What? What?* He read and thought much,
however, and understood music well, being the
great patron of Handel, a German, the grandest
composer who ever lived.

H. IV, ivi

178 REIGX OF GEORGE III.

5. King George's pleasure was to lead the life
of a country gentleman at Windsor Castle, riding
and walking about in a blue coat turned up with
red, and talking to anyone he met Once he was
found reading the Bible in a cottage to a sick
woman whose little girl had led him to her without
knowing him. He used to say, he hoped the time
would come when every poor man would be able
to read his Bible and have a fat pig in his sty.

6. So the people loved * Farmer George,' as the
Whigs called him, and it was well that there was a
strong love between the King and the nation,
for France was in a dreadful state. That country
had for more than a hundred years been very
badly and selfishly governed, and when, at last, a
better king, Louis XVIc, tried to do something to
relieve the people, they were so wild with the
longing for freedom that they did not know where
to stop. Thus began the great French Eevolution.

7. Madness seemed to seize upon the leaders of
the French, and especially on the people of Paris.
They were so much afraid that the King and the
nobles might bring back the old bad times, that
they put everyone to death who could be supposed
to wish to hinder their changes. The King and
Queen were both beheaded by a machine called
the Guillotine, and so were innumerable noblemen,
ladies, priests, and all persons of every class whom
any one chose to accuse of conspiring against the
nation. Such torrents of blood were shed that
this period is known as the Eeign of Terror.

WILLIAM PITT. 179

8. At first many English people, especially Fox,
sympathised with the French, who had been so long
oppressed ; but the Tories distrusted the French
leaders, and feared that they would go too far.
William Pitt, the second son of the great Lord
Chatham, was the head of the Tory party, and
guided the counsels of England at this time. The
French hated him beyond all measure, and there
were many of them who fancied that Paris was full
of his spies, and that he paid persons to cause all
the horrors of the Reign of Terror !

9. Yet beyond kindly receiving the persons
who fled from the perils at home, England had
never interfered with the Revolution, except that,
when the French put their King to death, the
English recalled their Ambassador from Paris.
This was held by the French to be a declaration of
war, and the English nation, who were horrified
at their doings, were hot against them.

10. The Duke of York led an expedition to
Holland, to join the Germans and the nobles who
had fled from France, but it was very badly
managed, and effected nothing. The French, in
their new ardour, were extremely brave and daring
soldiers, and a young Corsican officer, named
Vapoleon Bonaparte^ seemed to be able to lead them
anywhere. The horrible doings of the Reign of
Terror were over, and a Republic was set up at
Paris, which ruled the country and seemed disposed
to conquer all other nations.

11. There were two great risings in Ireland aad

M 2

i8o REIGN OF GEORGE IIL

' the rebels hoped that the French would come to
their aid, but two French expeditions for the pur-
pose failed, and the rebellion was put down with
much severity and often with great cruelty on the
part of the soldiers. By sea the French never
prospered. Admiral Howe gave them a great beat-
ing in the English Channel on the ist of June, 1794 ;
and Admiral Jervis in 1797 again defeated them off
Cape St Vincent.

12. But the English sailors were pressed, that
is, seized and made to serve by force for small pay
and bad food. The consequence was a dangerous
mutiny in the fleet at the Nore, but larger wages
were promised and the ringleaders were punished,
and soon afterwards another grand victory was
won at Camperdown.

Persons: Warren Hastings— Edmund Burke— Dn Samuel
Johnson— Oliver Goldsmith— Sir Joshua Reynolds— David
Garrick— George, Prince of Wales— Frederick, Duke ot
York— Charles James Fox— Handel— William Pitt— Napdeoo
Bonaparte— Admiral Howe — Admiral Jervis.

Places: Paris— Cape St Vincent— The Nore— Camper-
down.

Dates: English victory in the English Channel, 1794—
Battle of Cape St. Vmcent, 1797.

BURKE, GARRJCK, AND REYNOLDS. i8i

XLIV. CHARACTERS OF BURKE,
GARRICK, AND REYNOLDS.

(Supposed epitaphs written by Goldsmith.)

Here lies our good Edmund,' whose genius was

such,
We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much ;
Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind,
And to party gave up what was meant for man-
kind.
Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his

throat.
To persuade Tommy Townsend ^ to give him a

vote;
Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on re-
fining.
And thought of convincing, while they thought of

dining.
Though equal to all things, for all things unfit,
Too nice ^ for a statesman, too proud for a wit.
For a patriot too cool, for a drudge, disobedient.
And too fond of the right to pursue the expedient ;
In short 'twas his fate, unemployed, as in place, sir.
To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor.

* Edmund Burke.

* Tommy Townsend, a dull member of Parliament.

■ Nice used to mean scrupulous. The meaning of the whole
character is that Burke, though devoted to the Tory party, was loo
clever and earnest to be always understood, and too conscientious
to get on in the world.

i82 REIGN OF GEORGE II L

Here lies David Garrick, describe me who can,
An abridgment * of all that was pleasant in man.
As an actor, confest without rival to shine.
As a wit, if not first, in the very first line.
Yet with talents like these, and an excellent heart
The man had his failings, a dupe to his art.
On the stage, he was natural, simple, affecting,
It was only that when he was off he was acting ;
With no reason on earth to go out of his way,
He turned and he varied full ten times a day ;
Of praise a mere glutton, he swallowed what came,
And the puff of a dunce, he mistook it for fame.

Here Reynolds is laid, and to tell you my mind,
He has not left a wiser or better behind ;
His pencil was striking, resistless and grand.
His manners were gentle, complying and bland ;
Still born to improve us in every part,
His pencil our faces, his manners our heart.
To coxcombs averse, and yet civilly steering,
When they judged without skill, he was still hard

of hearing.
When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios,*

and stuff.
He shifted his trumpet and only took snuff.'

* Abridgment, Garrick was a very small man.

^ Raphael and Correggio, celebrated Italian painters.

■ Sir Joshua was very deaf, and used a trumpet. The meaning
is that when conceited people laid down the law about pictures
which they did not understand, he would not contradict them,
and therefore took care not to listen.

NELSON, i8j

XLV. THE ENGLISH VICTORIES

BY SEA,

1. The great desire of the French was to

invade and conquer England, and never were her
wooden walls more needed. There was a fleet
constantly watching in the Channel, and in the
country almost every able-bodied Englishman was
in training as a volunteer, while all along the coast
beacons were kept ready for being lighted, and
arrangements were made for sending the women
and children inland if the enemy should land.

2. -However, Bonaparte had another plan. He
meant to fall on the English in India, and in 1798,
he set off with a fleet and army to Egypt, expecting
to win his way there and over all the East to
India. The English fleet, under Admiral Horatio
Nelson, the greatest of all our sailors, followed him
along the Mediterranean.

3. A thick fog prevented Nelson from over-
taking the French before the army had landed in
Egypt, but he found their fleet ranged in Abonkir
Bay. He had only fourteen ships, not one with
more than 74 guns ; the French had seventeen, and
their flag-ship, V Orient, carried 120 guns. * By this
time to-morrow I shall have obtained a peerage
or Westminster Abbey,* said Nelson, in the Van-
guard,

4. The English fleet made the attack, and before
the end of that ist of August, thirteen French ships

1 84 REIGN OF GEORGE II L

were burnt or taken, U Orient had blown up, her
dying Admiral on board, and also her Captain,
Casablanca, and his little boy of ten years old.
Attempts had been made to save the child with
the sailors, who were taken on board English
ships, but he would not go without orders from
his father, who lay senseless on the deck. For
one moment after the explosion, he was seen
swimming, but in the confusion the noble child
was lost. Nelson was wounded in the head, but
he obtained his peerage, as he well deserved, for
he had already been in 104 sea fights, and had
lost an eye and an arm.

5. The battle of the Nile had quite cut Bona*
parte off from France, and he had not much chance
in India, even if he could have reached that country ;
for his ally, the Sultan Tippoo Sahib, had just been
defeated and killed at Seringapatam. However,
the French marched into the Holy Land, and sub-
dued the country until they came to Acre. Here
another English sailor. Sir Sidney Smith; so helped
the inhabitants to defend the town that Bonaparte
had to give up the siege. After this he always
said that Sir Sidney had made him miss his
destiny.

6. While treating with the French before Acr^
Smith lent them some newspapers, and there Bona-
parte found that affairs were getting into such a
state in France that he had better return. So he
hastened away, leaving an army in Egypt, which
was totally routed by Sir Ralph Abercrombie ;

UNION WITH IRELAND. 185

Alexandria was surrendered to the English and
Turks, and so ended the Eastern hopes of the
French.

7. The Emperor Paul of Russia admired Bona-
parte and wanted to unite the northern nations with
him against England, to prevent other countries
from trading with her. Eord Nelson was sent with
a fleet, which bombarded Copenhagen and made
all the Danish ships surrender to him, thus forcing
Denmark to keep the peace, and shutting Russia
into the Baltic Sea. This was in 1801, and the
Emperor Paul soon afterwards died.

XLVI. THE ENGLISH VICTORIES BY

SEA (continued),

1. In the year 1800, it was thought that
Ireland would be more safe and loyal if, like
Scotland, it were united with England, and sent
its members to Parliament, not at Dublin, but at
Westminster. This accordingly was done, but
the Irish did not become more contented. Indeed,
Mr. Pitt thought the Union with Ireland needful,
and that some relief should be given to the Roman
Catholics, and had made promises to that effect ;
but the King thought this contrary to his corona-
tion oath, and was so much distressed at Pitt's
proposals as nearly to have another attack of
madness.

2. This resistance of George III. was the last

i86 REIGN OF GEORGE III.

occasion on which a King opposed his Ministry suc-
cessfully. Since that time, the sovereign has always
complied with the will of Parliament. The govern-
ment has been chiefly carried on by the Ministry,
and they always resign if the votes in the House of
Commons are so strongly against their measures that
there is reason to believe that the greater part of the
people do not approve of their manner of conduct-
ing the government.

3. Pitt resigned his office, and Lord Sidmouth
came in. A peace was made with the French
called the Peace of Amiens. Numbers of people
hurried to see France in its changed state, and
to behold the famous General Bonaparte, who
was now at the head of affairs there, and was called
First Consul. But it had been part of the treaty
that all conquests on each side should be restored.
The French did not give up theirs, and so the
English would not quit the little isle of Malta,
which they had recovered from the French, and
which properly belonged to the Knights of St
John. On this, Bonaparte raged against the
English Ambassador, drove him away, and made
prisoners all the peaceable English travellers, a
shameful act, never equalled before or since
amongst civilised nations ; 10,000 were kept in cap-
tivity for eleven years, that is, from 1803 to 18 14.

4. The preparations for invading England
went on in earnest, and Boulogne Harbour was full
of flat-bottomed boats in which the French were to
land ; and medals were actually made in Paris, to

TRAFALGAR. 187

be given after the victory, with the false inscription,
* Struck in London/ Pitt returned to office, and
Nelson watched closely in the Channel, and so
successful was his defence of the coasts that no
Frenchman set foot in England save as a prisoner.

5. The French meantime made Napoleon
their Emperor^ and he allied himself with Spain,
which had a fine fleet of large three-decked ships,
so that he hoped to be a match for the English.
The two fleets joined in Cadiz bay, and numbered
forty-six ships, their masts looking, as Admiral
ColUngwood said, as thick as trees in a wood.
Then, on the 21st of October 1805, off Cape
Trafolgar, Lord Nelson attacked them with forty
ships. *No English captain can go wrong who
lays himself alongside of an enemy's shipl he said,
and his signal was, * England expects every man to
do his duty!

6. The great crescent in which the enemy was
drawn up was soon broken, their defeat was com-
plete, but in the midst of the fight a shot from a
man in the rigging of a French ship struck Nelson
in the spine, and he fell on the deck of his flag-ship,
the Victory. He lived long enough to hear the
cheers of his men as each enemy's ship struck,
nineteen in all being taken, and so many
others sunk, that the French had only nine large
ships left, the Spaniards only fifteen. Both ad-
mirals were made prisoners; the Spaniard was
dangerously wounded, and the Frenchman killed
himself.

i88 RE/G.V OF GEORGE ///.

r-

THE BATTLE OF THE BALTIC. 189

7. After this greatest of our naval victories
ttere was no more fear of a French invasion, and
Britain remained alone ruler of the seas. The
worst danger was thus over before, in 1806, Pitt
\ died, worn out with care and anxiety, and in the
course of the same year Fox also died.

Fkrsons: Admiral Nelson— Napoleon Bonaparte — Sultan
Tipfoo Sahib— Sir Sidney Smith— Sir Ralph Abercrombie -
Tiie Emperor Paul of Russia— William Pitt— Lord Sidmouth.

Dates : Battle of the Nile, 1798— Union of Great Britain
aii4 Ireland, 1800— Battle of Trafalgar, 1805— Deaths of Pitt
•ad Fox, z8o6.

XLVII. THE BATTLE OF THE BALTIC.

(Copenhagen.)

Of Nelson and the North

Sing the glorious day's renown,
When in battle fierce came forth
All the might of Denmark's crown,
And her arms along the deep proudly shone.
By each gun the lighted brand.
In a bold, determined hand.
And the Prince^ of all the land
Led them on.

Like leviathans ^ afloat

Lay their bulwarks on the brine,

While the sign of battle flew
On the lofty British line ;

' Prince, the Crown Prince of Denmark commanded the Danes.
' LeyiathanSi great whales.

190 REIGy OF GEORGE UL

It was an April mom by the chime.
As they drifted on their path.
There was silence deep as death.
And the boldest held his breath
For a time.

But the might of England flushed

To anticipate the scene.
And her van the fleeter rushed

O'er the deadly space between.
Hearts of oak!' our captain cried, when each
gun.
From its adamantine^ lips.
Spread a death shade round the ships,
Like the hurricane eclipse
Of the sun.

Again ! again ! again !

And the havoc did not slack,
Till a feeble cheer the Dane
For our cheering sent us back ;
Their shots along the deep slowly boom,
Then ceased, and all is wail.
As they strike the shattered sail.
Or in conflagration^ pale
Light the gloom.

Out spake the victor then,
As he hailed them o*er the wave,

' Adamantine properly means hard as loadstone,
* Conflagratioiiy a great fire.

THE BATTLE OF THE BALTIC, . 191

* Ye are brothers, ye are men !
And we conquer but to save ;
So peace instead of death let us bring ;
But yield, proud foe, thy fleet,
With the crews at England's feet.
And make submission meet
To our King.*

Then Denmark blessed our chief

That he gave her wounds repose.
And the sounds of joy and grief
From her people wildly rose,
As death withdrew his shades from the day ;
While the sun looked smiling bright.
On a wide and woful sight,
Where the fires of funeral light
Died away.

Now joy Old England raise.

For the tidings of thy might,
By the festal cities* blaze,

While the wine-cup shines in light.
And yet amidst that joy and uproar

Let us think of them that sleep.

Full many a fathom deep.

By thy wild and stormy steep

Elsinore ! *

Thomas Campbell.
(Abridged. )

' Elsinore is situated at the narrowest part of the channel,
called the Sounds by which ships usually enter the Baltic Sea.

\

192 . REIGN OF GEORGE III.

XLVIII. THE DEATHS OF NELSON,

PITT, AND FOX.

Deep graved in every British heart,

O never let these names depart !

Say to your sons, * Lo, here his grave

Who victor died on Gadite* wave/

To him, as to the burning levin,^

Short, bright, resistless course was given.

Where'er his country's foes were found

Was heard the fatal thunder's sound.

Till burst the bolt on yonder shore,

RoU'd, blazed, destroyed, and was no more.

Nor mourn ye less his perish'd worth
Who bade the conqueror go forth.
And launched that thunderbolt of war
On Egypt, Hafnia,^ Trafalgar ;
Who, born to guide such high emprise,*
For Britain's weal was early wise ;
Alas ! to whom the Almighty gave,
For Britain's sins, an early grave.

Now is the stately column broke,

The beacon light is quenched in smoke,

' GaditC) of Cadiz. Cades was the old name.

^ Levin, lightning.

' Hafnia, Copenhagen.

^ Emprise is a contraction ot enterprise.

NELSON, PITT, AND FOX. 193

The trumpet's silver sound is still.
The warder silent on the hilL

Then while on Britain's thousand plains
One unpolluted Church remains,
Whose peaceful bells ne'er sent around
The bloody tocsin's' maddening sound,
But still upon the hallow'd day
Convokes the swains to praise and pray.
While faith and civil peace are dear,
Grace this cold marble ^ with a tear, —
He who preserved them, Pitt, lies here.
Nor yet suppress the generous sigh.
Because his rival slumbers nigh.
Nor be thy requiescat' dumb.
Lest it be said o'er Fox's tomb.
For talents mourn, untimely lost
When best employed and wanted most ;
Mourn genius high and lore profound.
And wit that loved to play, not wound.
And all the reasoning powers divine
To penetrate, resolve, combine,
And feeling keen, and fancy's glow.
They sleep with him who sleeps below ;
And if thou moum'st they could not save
From error him who owns this grave,

* Tocsiiiy the ringing of a bell for the purpose of ginng an
alarm.

* Marble, supposed to be spoken in Westminster Abbey,
vhexe Pitt and Fox are both boricxl.

* Reqoiescaty a Latin word meaning * 5faj he rest.'

H. IV. N

194 REIGN OF GEORGE 111.

Be every harsher thought supprest,
And sacred be the last long rest.

Here, where the end of earthly things
Lays heroes, patriots, bards and kings,
Where stiff the hand and cold the tongue
Of those who fought, and spoke, and sung.
Here, where the fretted ^ aisles prolong
The distant notes of holy song.
As if some angel spoke again.
Are peace on earth, good will to men.

• •.••••
Where, taming thought to human pride,
The mighty chiefs sleep side by side,
Drop upon Fox's grave the tear,
'Twill trickle to his rival's bier ;

O'er Pitt's the mournful requiem ^ sound,
And Fox's shall the notes rebound ;
The solemn echo seems to cry,
* Here let their discord with them die.

• ••••••

But search the land of living men.
Where wilt thou find their like again ? '

Scott.
Introduction to Martnion (abridged).

' Fretted, delicately carved out.

^ Requiem, properly a mass for the dead, the beginning of
which is ^Requiem ceternam ; ' but it has come to mean a hymn of
rest.

FRENCH CONQUESTS, 195

XLIX. THE PENINSULAR WAR.

1. After the deaths of Pitt and Fox, the chief
EngHsh statesmen were Spencer Perceval, George
Canning, and Lord Castlereagh. All this time the
member for Yorkshire, William Wilberforce, one of
the best of men, had been striving to put an end
to the slave-trade ; that is, the stealing of negroes
from Guinea to become slaves in the West Indian
islands. In 1807, ^fter twenty years* perseverance,
he carried an Act of Parliament forbidding such
deeds by British subjects ; although slavery itself
still continued in the West Indies.

2. Though the battle of Trafalgar had saved
England from the danger of invasion, the times were
still full of peril. Napoleon had been victorious over
every other nation in Europe and had forced them to
bend to his will. He had joined Italy to France and
driven the King of Naples into Sicily, but that
island was guarded by the English fleet. Switzerland
and Holland were also absorbed into the French
Empire ; Austria, Russia, and Prussia had all been
defeated, and Prussia, deprived of half her lands.
No one seemed able to resist the French by land,
any more than the English could be resisted by sea.

3. Spain had always been the ally of France
and Portugal of England ; Napoleon offered to

divide Portugal with Charles IV., the Kin^oC St^^vol^

N 3

296 REIGN OF GEORGE II..

if the French army were allowed to pass through
Spain to seize the little kingdom. Charles consented,
and the Portuguese royal family, thinking it in vain
to resist, took ship and went off to their possessions
in Brazil, in South America ; but their people had
more spirit, and called upon the English to help
them.

4. Napoleon had now obtained a footing in Spain.
There was a family quarrel between the King and
his eldest son, Ferdinand ; and Napoleon offered to
meet them at Bayonne and judge between them.
They foolishly consented, and were no sooner there,
than they were both seized and kept captives, closely
guarded by French soldiers, while Napoleon sent his
army to master their country and set his own brother
Joseph Bonaparte up as King of the whole Peninsula.

5. The Spaniards were angry at this wicked
robbery, and rose against the French all over the
country, and they too asked aid from England.
An army was sent out in 1808 under the command
of Sir Arthur Wellesley, an officer who had gained
great distinction in India, while his brother the
Marquis Wellesley was Governor there. Sir Arthur
gave the French a total rout at Vimiera, which
forced them to quit Portugal immediately, and
he then returned home.

6. Sir Jolm Moore came out with some more
troops, and entered Spain in the north-east, mean-
ing to join the Spaniards and prevent the French
from taking Madrid. He found, however, that it
was too Jate to save the Spanish capital, and that

THE PENINSULAR WAR, 197

the French were stronger and the Spaniards not so
strong as had been reported to him. He, therefore,
had to make his way to the port of Corunna, where
the fleet was. It was winter, and he had to go
through rough mountain roads in Galicia, where his
army suffered sadly and all stragglers were cut off
by the French, who followed closely on his rear.

7. On the heights above Corunna, to protect the
embarkation, the British army turned to bay, and
gained a splendid victory, but with the loss of their
brave leader, whose shoulder was shattered by a
cannon ball, and who died in the evening, glad to
have saved the honour of his country. He was
buried on the ramparts that night, just before his
sorrowful friends embarked for England.

8. The French returned to Portugal when the
English had left it, but another army was at once
sent out with Sir Arthur Wellesley, and before long
they were driven out of Portugal. Following them
closely. Sir Arthur beat them at Talavera. After
this victory he was raised to the peerage by the
title of Wellington.

9. The ablest of Napoleon's generals was sent
in 1 810 to make a third attempt on Portugal, but
was beaten at Busaco. However, his troops were
so numerous that Wellington afterwards kept within
a great entrenched camp, called Torres Vedras,
which protected Lisbon, and where the French
durst not attack him. In the spring of the next
year he again followed them into Spain, and de-
feated them at Fuentes d'Onor.

(

198 REIGN OF GEORGE III.

10. In i8i2, the English army took the two
cities of Ciudad Bodrigo and Badajos by storm,
and won the great battle of Salamanca. They
even entered Madrid, but they had to fall back
for the winter upon Ciudad Rodrigo. However,
in the spring of 1813, they advanced again, and
met the French army at Vittoria, the place of the
victory of the Black Prince more than four centuries
before.

11. Joseph Bonaparte, the so-called King of
Spain, was with the French army, carrying off all
the money, plate, jewels, and pictures he had been
able to collect. The French tried to make a stand,
but were utterly routed at Vittoria, and all this
treasure fell into the hands of the English, while
Joseph made his escape as best he could.

12. Right up to the Pyrenees were the French
now driven before the English. Nothing was
left to Bonaparte in all the Peninsula except the
two cities of St. Sebastian and Pamplona, and
another French force was sent to try to save
them. Two more battles, called the battles of the
Pyrenees, were fought, and the French again were
defeated, St. Sebastian was stormed and Pamplona
surrendered.

13. Wellington next hunted the French over
the mountains into their own country, beating them
again at the towns of Orthes and Toulouse. This
last battle, fought on the loth of April, 1814, was
the final one of the Peninsular war, which had lasted
six years, without the British having received a

THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE, 199

^1 1 !-■ ^ J I . -^ - TT I

single defeat, nor even lost so much as a gun or
the colours of a single regiment

Persons : Spencer Perceval — George Canning — Lord
Qatlereagh— William Wilberforce— Charles IV. of Spain-
Joseph Bonaparte— Sir Arthur Wellesley— Sir John Moore.

Battles: Vimiera, z8o8— Corunna and Talavera, 1809 —
Busacoy 1810— Fuentes d'Onor, i8zi— Ciudad Rodrigo, Ba-
di^os, Salamanca, z8z2— Vittoria, 1813— Pyrenees, Orthes,
and Toulouse, z8z4.

L. THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN
MOORE AT CORUNNA.

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse to the ramparts we hurried ;

Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot,
O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sod with our bayonets turning,

By the struggling moonbeams' misty light,
And the lantern dimly burning.

No useless coffin enclosed his breast.

Nor in sheet nor in shroud we wound him.

But he lay like a warrior taking his rest.
With his martial cloak around him !

Few and short were the prayers we said.
And we spoke not a word of sorrow.

REIGN OF GEORGE III.

But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was
dead.
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

[BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE.]

We thought as we hollowed his narrow bed,
And smoothed down his lowly pillow,

THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE. 201

That the foe and the stranger would tread o*er
his head,
And we far away on the billow.

Lightly they*ll talk of the spirit that's gone,
And o*er his cold ashes upbraid him —

But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on
In the grave where a Briton has laid him.

But half of our heavy task was done

When the clock struck the hour of retiring,

And we heard the distant and random gun,
That the foe was sullenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down.

From the field of his fame fresh and gory ;

We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone.
But we left him alone with his glory.

C. Wolfe,

LI. WATERLOO.

I. While the British army was fighting in
Spain, England had kept a great Jubilee for the
fiftieth year of George III. ; but the King was now
fast losing his sight and, hearing, and in 18 10,
grief for the loss of his youngest daughter, Amelia,
brought on a return of his insanity from which he
never recovered. Queen Charlotte took charge of
him, and he lived for ten years at Windsor Castle,

::o2 REIGN OF GEORGE HI.

sometimes able to occupy himself with music,
but cut off from almost everything by his deafness
and blindness.

2. The Prince of Wales became Regent, and
being now older and more prudent than in the
days of Fox, he carried on the same policy as his
father had done. But in 1812, all England was
horrified by the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval,
being shot dead in the lobby of the House of
Commons by a man named Bellingham, for no
motive that could be understood. Perceval was a
good man and much lamented ; Lord Liverpool
took his place.

3. In the meantime, the ambition and violence
of Napoleon had grown unbearable to all the other
nations of Europe. He had beaten each singly,
except the English, but when they at last all joined
together against him, they overwhelmed him ; and
just as Wellington was fighting the battle of
Toulouse they had driven him to his palace of
Fontainebleau, where he resigned his crown and
yielded himself to them.

4. The Duke of Wellington crossed France
from Toulouse to Paris, and met the Emperors of
Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia, who
had all entered the city at the head of their armies.
The people of France invited home their late
King's brother, Louis XVIIL, who had been
sheltered in England, and he returned to take
possession of his throne; while Napoleon was* sent
to a little island in the Mediterranean Sea, named

BATTLE OF WATERLOO, 203

Elba, in order that he might never again disturb
the peace of Europe.

5. All the three allied Sovereigns, as they were
called, with their chief generals, came to London, to
visit the Prince Regent, and were welcomed with
the greatest eagerness. There was much rejoicing
that peace was at last come after a twenty years'
war. Afterwards each country sent representatives
to Vienna to arrange the affairs of Europe, after
all the shocks it had undergone. .

6. In the midst of these consultations, early in
181 5, the news came like a thunderclap that Bona-
parte had escaped from Elba, and was in France,
rapidly gathering his old friends about him. The
army hailed him with delight, Louis XVIIL fled
to Ghent, and Paris opened its gates to the Emperor
once more.

7. Each Sovereign hastened to call together his
troops to crush the enemy of all, but England and
Prussia were ready before the rest, and their armies
were to join together in Belgium, thence to march
into France. Napoleon set off thither with his
choicest troops, hoping to defeat them before the
Russians and Austrians could combine with them.

8. The Prussians had a fight with the French
on the 14th of June, at Ligny, which was un-
decided. The English meanwhile had been sta-
tioned on a range of low hills, near the village of
Waterloo, and here on the i8thof June, 181 5, the
great battle took place. All day there was hard
fighting on each side, especially at a farm-house

204 REIGN OF GEORGE III.

called Hougoumont, but towards evening Napoleon
ordered his best troops, his Imperial Guard, to
charge on the squares of British infantry on the top
of the hills, which nothing had yet broken. Again
the British stood firm, waiting to fire on the Guard
till it was almost close to them. Then, as this last
body of French fell back repulsed, the British in-
fantry advanced in good order, steadily in their ranks,
and the enemy gave way before them, rushing down
the slopes brokea and routed, while the Prussians
coming up, completed the utter discomfiture of the
French.

9. Napoleon was obliged to fly for his life. He
had no fresh army to call up. The English troops
were marching on Paris, and after a day or two of
doubt, he fled to the port of Rochefort, hoping to
escape to America, but finding this impossible, he
surrendered himself to Captain Maitland of the
English ship Bellerophon, and was carried to Ply-
mouth.

10. He was kept on board ship till his fate could
be decided upon, and it was determined that he
should be sent to St. Helena, a lonely island in the
Atlantic Ocean, whence he could not possibly
escape, and he was to be closely watched by the
English governor, Sir Hudson Lowe. In St. He-
lena he died in the year 1821.

1 1 . The Congress of Vienna was resumed, and
England gave up all the places she had conquered
during the war, except the islands of Malta and
Heligoland in Europe, the Cape of Good Hope,

THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA.

and part of Ceylon, which had been taken from
the Dutch while they were under the alliance of

France, and the islands called Mauritius and Sey-
chelles, which had been French.

12. During the last two years a war had been

2o6 REIGN OF GEORGE III.

going on with the United States. It was caused
by the English claiming the right to search Ame-
rican vessels and take out British sailors. In the
course of this war the Americans tried in vain to
conquer Canada, and the English landed on the
American coast and attacked New Orleans, but
in vain, and peace was made early in 1815.

13. The English and Dutch fleets now joined
together to put an end to the piracies of the Dey
of Algiers, a Mohammedan Prince, whose robber
ships were the terror of the Mediterranean. Lord
Exmouth, at the head of the two fleets, bombarded
the city, forced it to surrender, set free hosts of
Christian slaves, and entirely broke up the nest of
pirates.

Persons : The Prince of Wales— Spencer Perceval— Lord
Liverpool— Napoleon — The Duke of Welling^n — Louis
XVI IL of France— The Dey of Algiers.

Places : Elba — St. Helena.

£>a/es : Battle of Waterloo and Congress of Vienna, 28x5.

LII. THE CRISIS OF WATERLOO.

(The Charge of the Imperial Guard. )

On came the whirlwind, like the last,
But fiercest sweep of thunder blast.
On came the whirlwind, steel gleams broke
Like lightning through the rolling smoke :

The war was waked anew.
Three hundred cannon mouths roared loud.
And from their throats, with fla^ and cloud,

Their showers of iron threw.

THE CRISIS OF WATERLOO, 207

Beneath their fire, in full career,
Rush'd on the ponderous cuirassier,^

The lancer couch'd his ruthless spear.
And hurrying as to havoc near,

The cohorts' 2 eagles ^ flew.
In one dark torrent broad and strong
The advancing onset roll'd along.
Forth harbinger'd by fierce acclaim
That, from the throat of smoke and flame,
Peard wildly the Imperial name.'*

But on the British heart were lost

The terrors of the charging host.

For not an eye the storm that view'd

Changed its proud glance of fortitude.

Nor was one forward footstep stay'd

As dropped the dying and the dead.

Fast as their ranks the thunders tear.

Fast they renewed each serried square,

And on the wounded and the slain

Clos'd their diminished lines again.

Till from their line, scarce spear's lengths three.

Emerging from the smoke they see

Helmet, and plume, and panoply :

Then wak'd their fire at once ;

Each musketeer's revolving knell ^

' Cuirassier, so called from the cuirass or steel breastplate.

* Cohort, a division of a Roman legion, the name here ap-
plied to the French regiments.

• Eagles were the ensigns of the Empire.

* Imperial name, — the Guard shouted * Vive NapoUon,^

• The report of the musket is called a knell because, like the
tolling of a bell, it announced a person's death.

2o8 REIGN OF GEORGE III.

As fast, as regularly fell,

As when they practise to display

Their discipline on festal day —

Then down went helm and lance,
Down were the eagle banners sent,
Down, rolling, steeds and riders went.
Corslets were pierc'd and pennons rent ;

And to augment the fray,
Wheerd full against their staggering flanks.
The English horsemen's foaming ranks

Forc'd their resistless way.
Then to the musket knell succeeds
The clash of swords, the neigh of steeds ;
As plies the smith ^ his clanging trade.
Against the cuirass rang the blade.
And while amid their close array
The well-served cannon rent their way.
And while amid their scattered band
Raged the fierce rider's bloody brand.
Recoiled in common rout and fear.
Lancer, and Guard, and Cuirassier,
Horsemen and foot, a mingled host.
Their leaders fallen, their standards lost.

Then Wellington, thy piercing eye
The crisis caught of victory.

The British hosts had stood
That morn 'gainst charge of sword and lance
As their own ocean rocks hold stance,

> Smith, — a soldier compared the sound to a huge smith's foige.

THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE, 209

But when thy voice had said * Advance ! ' ^
They were their ocean's flood !

Scott's Field of Waterloo.

LIII. THE THIRTY YEARS* PEACE.

1. Peace had come at last, the longest peace
that England has ever enjoyed ; but with peace
there did not at once .come all the blessings that
the nation expected from it. The expense of the
war had been enormous, and taxation therefore
continued very high. The workmen employed in
trades connected with war had been earning high
wages while the war lasted, and they became dis-
contented now that their work was not so much
required. Moreover, there is sure to be much
sadness about the end of a reign, especially a very-
long one, and George III. had reigned longer than
any other King of England. Henry III. and Ed-
ward III. alone had, like him, reigned more than
fifty years.

2. The King, by his deafness and blindness, as
well as his insanity, was prevented from sharing the
joys and griefs of his people. He talked on to him-
self all day, and when at night his chair was moved
to show that it was bedtime, he said his prayers,
and then put a strong force on himself to keep
from speaking again, stuffing his handkerchief into
his mouth if he could not stop himself otherwise.

' 'Advance!' What he did say was to the colonel of the
advanced regiment, * That's right 1 Go on I Go on I*

H. IV. O

2IO REIGN OF GEORGE III.

3. The chief hope of the nation was fixed on
the only child of the Prince Regent, Charlotte of
Wales. The Prince had been persuaded, by a pro-
mise to pay his debts, to marry a German Princess,
and no sufficient inquiry had been made whether
the chosen lady, Caroline of Brunswick, were fit
for him. She proved to be a rude, untrained girl,
and the Prince took a dislike to her on the first
moment of seeing her.

4. He was too selfish to have patience with her
or try to improve her, and very soon they hated each
other, and lived apart. Their only child, the Princess
Charlotte, was under the charge of persons ap-
pointetl by her father, and had an unhappy girl-
hood ; she was often in disgrace for self-will, and
had no one to be really kind to her. Her mother
wont abroad as soon as the war was over, and lived
in Italy, amusing herself, and caring little what
might be said of her.

5. In 1816 Charlotte's happy days began, for
she was married to a kind and excellent prince,
Leopold, of Saxe Cobnrg. She was so eager and
vehement that he was always saying to her, * Gently,
my dear ; * and he was tenderly taming down her
strong will, and all the nation were expecting to
have an excellent Queen in her, when she died, in
her twenty-fourth year, in 18 17.

6. Her grandmother, good old Queen Charlotte,
died in 1818, and the next year followed Edward,
Duke of Kent, the fourth son of the King, leaving
an infant daughter, named Victoria. The old

ACCESSION OF GEORGE IV. 211

—

King, George III., unaware of all these losses, died
a few days after his son, on the 26th of June, 1820,
having reigned sixty years, and having had the
grandest and most victorious, as well as the longest,
of the reigns of all our English kings.

7. Oeorge IV. had not been King a month
before a conspiracy was discovered for killing the
Ministers and seizing the Bank and the Tower.
The ringleader, Arthur Thistlewood, was put to
death ; and this is the last execution for treason
that took place in England. This is sometimes
called i/ic Cato Street Conspij-aeyy because the
plotters met in a loft over a stable in that street.

8. The title of Queen and a pension were offered
by George IV. to his wife, if she would remain
abroad and not put herself forward to share the
throne. However, she would not hear of being set
aside, and came to London, where many persons
took her part, thinking her unjustly used ; and in
truth she was much to be pitied ; but, on the other
hand, she had not acted in such a way as to be fit
to be the head of the ladies of England.

9. The King called on the House of Lords to
pronounce that she must be divorced ; but, though
there was no doubt that her conduct had been
wrong, the feeling of the country was that George
himself had no right to be harsh and to let her
bear all the blame, so the proceedings were dropped.
At the Coronation, which was one of the most
splendid that ever took place, poor Caroline tried
to force her way into Westminster Abbey, but she

Oil

212 REIGN OF GEORGE IV.

was kept out, and soon afterwards she died of dis-
appointment and vexation.

10. Canning was Foreign Secretary from 1 822 to
1827, when he became Prime Minister, but he died
a few months afterwards. The great event of the
time was a treaty between the Powers of Europe
to put a stop to the wars between the Turks and
the Greeks who were subject to them. It was in-
tended that there should be no fighting; but at
Navarino a great sea fight took place, in which the
Turkish fleet was ruined, and after this the kingdom
of Greece was set up.

11. The Duke of Wellington soon after became
Prime Minister. The question whether Roman
Catholics should be allowed to become magistrates
and sit in Parliament had come forward again,
since the death of George III. Now that Ireland,
where there were so many Roman Catholics, had
been united to England, it was held to be just to
give them votes. Both the King and his Ministers
were very unwilling to do so, but Ireland was on the
point of rebellion, and in 1829 the Act for Boman
Catholic Emancipation ^ was passed.

12. The King's next brother and chief com-
panion, Frederick, Duke of York, died in 1827,
leaving no children. After this the King's health
began to break. He shut himself up at Windsor,
only going out for drives in the private parts of
the Park, and never showing himself publicly nor

> Emancipation, setting free from controlling influences;
laking awa^ the rules which had restricted liberty.

ACCESSION OF WILLIAM IV, 213

seeing anyone he could possibly avoid. He died
on the 26th of June, 1830.

13. During these years of peace many improve-
ments had been made, and great inventions were
coming into use. Excellent roads had been made,
gas was used, and the powers of steam had been
discovered, chiefly by James Watt, as long ago as
1769. It was used in cotton-spinning and weaving,
and was making England the chief manufacturing
country in the world. Steamboats were beginning
to ply, though at first for only short distances ; and
George Stephenson formed the first railway, where
the first locomotive engine ran, the autumn after
the death of George IV.

. Persons r Georgia IV.— Queen Caroline of Brunswick—
The Princess Charlotte— Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg —
The Princess Victoria— The Duke of Wellington — James
Watt— George Stephenson.

Dates: Death of George III., 1820— Battle of Navarino,
1827— Act for Roman Catholic Emancipation, 1829— Death of
George IV., 1830.

LIV. REFORM.

I. William 17. was the third son of George
III., and was married to Adelaide of Meiningen.
He had been in the navy, and had a bluff manner,
something like that of his father. He was under-
stood to be more in favour of changes than his
brother had been in his latter years, and he was
therefore very popular.

514 REIGN OF WILLIAM IV,

2. The old parties of Whigs and Tories still
continued ; but such Whigs as wished for the
greatest changes began to be called Radicals by
the Tories, and Liberals by themselves, and the
Tories, who wished to preserve the existing system,
were termed Conservatives.

3. There was need of some change in what
are called comtituencies \ that is, the places that
have a right to send members to Parliament ; for
some borough towns had dwindled down so as to be
mere villages, while others had grown up into very
thickly inhabited places, and still were only reckoned
as forming parts of the counties. The rules also as
to who were entitled to vote were different in
various places, so that there was much room for
unfairness.

4. It was proposed to revise all this, and to give
votes to many more persons. This was called the
Eeform Bill. The Duke of Wellington and the Tories
were averse to the change, thinking it would alter
the old British Constitution,* and the Duke went
out of office. He was abused, hooted, pelted, and
was even forced to have iron blinds put to the
windows of his London house ; but he bore all as
calmly as he had once borne general praise.

5. Earl Grey and the Whigs came in, Parlia-
ment was dissolved, and a new House of Commons
elected, which passed a Reform Bill so . much

> The British Constitution, the established form of
Government ; in this country the Constitution consists of a Monarch,
Lords, and Commons.

THE REFORM BILL. 215

stronger than had been at first proposed that the
Lords threw it out ; that is, they refused to agree
to it.

6. There were great disturbances all over the
country. The labourers imagined that the passing
of a Reform Bill would make every one well off
and prosperous, and that all those who hesitated
to pass it were cruel and tyrannical. They were
also extremely angry because the farmers had be-
gun to use thrashing machines. These were then
only worked by horses ; but the people, who were
very ignorant, fancied that the saving of labour
meant throwing them out of work and taking the
bread out of their mouths.

7. So in several counties, large gangs of men
went about, breaking the machines, burning the
ricks, and doing as much mischief as they could.
Soldiers had to be called out, and many of the
ringleaders were hanged and others transported.

8. When for the third time the Reform Bill
was brought into Parliament, the Peers who disap-
proved of it stayed away from the House, and it
was passed in the year 1832. By this Act all
renters of ten-pound houses in borough towns
received a vote for the town member, and all per-
sons who lived in the counties and paid rents of
more than fifty pounds a year, besides, of course,
the owners of lands who had votes before, were
entitled to vote for the county members.

9. This year, 1832, was the first in which
England was visited by that terrible disease^ the

fi6 REIGN OF WILLIAM IV,

cholera ; and as the treatment of it was not under-
stood, the number of persons who died in many
large towns was frightful. It has several times re-
turned, but as the way to treat it, and, better still,
to prevent it, is more studied, it has each time been
less severe. People had in those days scarcely
learnt how much infection depends upon dirt, bad
smells, and tainted water ; and cholera and typhus
fever have been their great and terrible appointed
teachers.

ID. In the year 1833, the work that had been
begun by Wilberforce was carried out, and in
August 1834 all the slaves in the British dominions
were declared free. A sum of ;g' 20,000,000 was
voted to make up to their owners for the loss, and
it was hoped that the negroes would continue to
work as free labourers ; but they proved to be far
too lazy to do so, and much of the prosperity of
the West India islands Has been lost in conse-
quence. Still it is a great thing that English
people are free from the wickedness of keepings
their fellow-men in bondage.

II. In 1834 the old law for the relief of the
poor, which had been made in Queen Elizabeth's
time, was altered, because it had been found that
when people obtained parish relief too easily, they
were apt to ask for it without being really in need,
and that strong men were not ashamed to live on
parish pay. Unions of parishes were made, that
the rates might fall less unequally, and that ex-
penses might be less than was the case when each

HIS DEATH. 217

parish had to provide for itself. Outdoor relief was
made much less frequent.

12. At the same time much was done by-
benevolent persons to put the poor in the way of
helping themselves and of assisting them to
emigrate to Canada, where they were much better
off than at home, and at the same time more
work was left for those who remained.

13. The country was beginning to be covered
with a net-work of railways. This gave employ-
ment to great numbers of persons ; and as travel-
ling became cheaper, it also became easier for
families to move about to places where employment
was to be found.

14. An accidental fire in 1834 burnt down the
Houses of Parliament, but happily spared West-
minster Hall. The new Houses were begun, from
designs by Sir Charles Barry.

15. In 1837, King William IV. died, leaving
no children, two little Princesses having died when
infants.

Persons : William IV.— Earl Grey.

Dates: Accession of William IV., 1830— The Reform Bill
passed, 1832— Abolition of Slavery in the British dominions,
1833— A new Poor Law passed, 1834— Death ^f William IV.,

1837.

2i8 REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.

LV. THE MORNING DREAM.

(Brilannia releasing the slaves ; a dream of the poet Cowper*s fifty

years before its fulfilment.)

'TWAS in the glad season of spring

Asleep at the dawn of the day,
I dreamt what I cannot but sing,

So pleasant it seemed as I lay.
I dreamt, that on ocean afloat,

Far hence in the westward I sailed,
While the billows high lifted the boat,

And the fresh blowing breeze never failed.

In the steerage, a woman I saw,

Such at least was the form that she bore,
Whose beauty impressed me with awe.

Ne'er taught me by woman before.
She sat, and a shield at her side,

Shed light, like a sun on the waves,
And smiling divinely, she cried,

* I go to make freemen of slaves.'

Then, raising her voice to a strain

The sweetest that ear ever heard,
She sang of the slave's broken chain,

Wherever her glory appeared.
Some clouds, which had over us hung,

Fled, chas'd by her melody clear,
And methought, while she liberty sung,

Twas liberty only to hear.

THE MORNING DREAM. 219

Thus, swiftly dividing the flood,

To a slave-cultur'd island we came,
Where a Demon, her enemy stood.

Oppression his terrible name.
In his hatid, as the sign of his sway,

A scourge hung with lashes he bore.
And stood looking out for his prey,

From Africa's sorrowful shore.

But soon as approaching the land,

That goddess-like woman he viewed.
The scourge he let fall from his hand,

With blood of his subjects imbrued.*
I saw him both sicken and die.

And the moment the monster expired,
Heard shouts that ascended the sky,

From thousands with rapture inspired.

Awaking, how could I but muse

At what such a dream could betide,
But soon my ear caught the glad news.

Which served my weak thought for a guide,
That Britannia, renowned o'er the waves.

For the hatred she ever has shown
To the black sceptred rulers of slaves,

Resolves to have none of her own.

William Cowper.

1 Imbrued, drencheJ.

220 REIGN OF VICTORIA,

LVI. EARLY YEARS OF QUEEN

VICTORIA.

1. The heiress to the crown was Victoria^ the
only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, a young girl
only just eighteen, the age at which sovereigns are
considered capable of governing for themselves
without a regent. The kingdom of Hanover, not
going in the female line, passed from her to her
uncle, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland.

2. The young Queen had been very carefully
brought up by her mother, and her kindness and
earnest desire to do her duty won all hearts. At
her coronation Lord Rolle, one of the oldest men
among the peers, missed his footing in coming to
do her homage, and almost fell, and her quick, in-
stinctive^ start forward to his assistance, forgetting
all but the old man's feebleness, touched everyone
with love for her.

3. In 1840 Queen Victoria was married to
Prince Albert, the second son of the Duke of Saxe
Coburg Gotha. The love of the royal pair and
the perfect way in which they kept up the relations
of husband and wife, was a noble example to all the

kingdom.

4. Not long after their marriage the Queen
showed her royal courage. As she was driving in
Hyde Park a shot was aimed at her. The mis-
creant was not detected, and the police thought

' Instinctive} prompted 'b7iia.\.>>x^lejs^2a^.

REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS. 221

that if she went the same way again the next day,
they should be able at once to seize him before
any harm was done. She went unflinchingly,
though she forbade any of her ladies to accompany'
her. The man was taken with his pistol ready, and
he proved to be a poor madman, who was shut up
till his death.

5. Hitherto, to encourage British farmers, there
had been a duty paid on all corn brought into
England from foreign countries. There was a great
effort on the part of the Liberals to get this taken
off. The Conservatives resisted ; but in the year
1846 the potato disease first appeared, and as the
poor had come to depend greatly on these roots
for their food, great dfstress was produced, and Sir
Bobert Peel, the Conservative leader, saw the
necessity of giving way and having corn brought
in free of duty. The Corn Laws were therefore
repealed.

6. The Irish peasants had for quite a century
lived on hardly any food but the potato, and the
famine produced in Ireland by the disease was hor-
rible beyond measure. Subscriptions were raised,
and charitable people devoted themselves to the
relief of the poor wretches ; but whole families died
off, either from hunger or the sicknesses caused
by want. Many were sent to America, and for a
time the face of Ireland was quite changed.

7. The year 1848 was a time of danger for all
governments, and the French rose upon their king,
Lotus Philippe, and drove him away to take refuge

222 REIGN OF VICTORIA.

in England, and there were disturbances in almost
every country. In England a large number of men
had banded themselves together to demand what
they called tAe Peoples Charter ^ and the loth
of April, 1848, was appointed for an enormous
meeting on Kennington Common and a procession
to present a monster petition for what would have
produced a revolution.

8. There was much alarm, and almost every
man who loved peace and order was sworn in as a
special constable, but only armed with a staff. The
Duke of Wellington posted soldiers in the neigh^
bourhood to be ready if needed, but he kept them
as much as possible out of sight, so as to avoid all
chance of irritating the people ; for no one hated war
and violence so much as this merciful soldier, who
had once said a great victory was the most dreadful
thing in the world, except a great defeat After
all, the whole affair passed off quietly. No harm
was done, no riot was begun, and the Chartists
broke up quietly.

9. At this time the ' Old Duke,' as everyone
called him, was spending an honoured old age,
greatly beloved by his young Queen, and looked
up to with pride and reverence by all the nation
who had forgotten all their former anger against
him, knowing that he had then, as ever, only been
holding staunchly to his one watchword, * duty,*

10. In 1851, under the management of Prince
Albert, took place the first Great International^

' International, common to two or more nations.

THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 223

[TflE r.REAT EXHinniOW OS AV'\

224 REIGN OF VICTORIA.

Exhibition, when the beautiful Crystal Palace was
set up in Hyde Park, and the produce and manu-
factures of almost every country in the world were
collected under it, beneath the motto, chosen by
Prince Albert for the central arch, * The Earth is
the Lord's and the fulness thereof.'

1 1. In the course of that same year the country
suffered a great loss in Sir Robert Peel, who died
in consequence of a fall from his horse while riding
in London ; and the following year, 1852, the great
Duke, now eighty-three years old, died after a short
illness, and was borne to his grave in St. Paul's
Cathedral by the old generals who had shared his
victories. Deputations were also sent from the other
countries of Europe for whom he had fought ; and
the whole world seemed to feel how great a life his
had been made by the one straightforward endea-
vour to do his duty, looking neither to the right nor
left; and caring neither for praise nor blame, com-
pared with duty.

12. During these years the great gift of a cheap
postage was conferred by the excellent scheme of
Sir Aowland Hill, who invented the plan of prepay-
ment by stamps. It has been adopted not only in
England, but all over the world.

Persons: Queen Victoria— Ernest Aug^ustus, Duke of Cum-
berland—Prince Albert— Sir Robert Peel— Sir Rowland Hill.

Dates: Accession of Queen Victoria, 1837— Repeal ^^ ^^
Com Laws, 1846— The Great International Exhibition, 1851.

THE DUKE'S FUNERAL. 225

LVII. THE DUKE'S FUNERAL.

See how the people gather together, ,

All thoughts of self disdaining,
How feeble women in the stormy weather

Stand worn but uncomplaining.

It is because they here await
The coming of the good and great ;
The man who down to death from youth.
Steered by the living star of Truth,
Made his lov'd country's cause his own,
And served her for herself alone ;
Therefore the Queen upon her throne

Weeps bitter tears to-day ;
Therefore the humblest workman here
Bares a rough head before the bier.
When that which was the Duke draws near ;
Therefore the soldiers, sadly, proudly.

Move on their mournful way ;
Therefore the cannon boometh loudly.

Athwart the fog-smoke grey ;
Therefore the leaders of the State
Around the gorgeous pageant wait,
And chiefs from many a land afar.

From proud and distant kings,
Each wise in peace or brave in war.

His sign of reverence brings.

H. IK

226 REIGN OF VICTORIA.

Who knows not how that orb^ subh'nie

Its matchless course hath run ;
It were an idle waste of time

To show the noonday sun ;
Enough that when the ruthless GauP

Became on earth the scourge of God,
When one man moved the lord of all,

And crushed a people where he trod,
His dauntless heart in stedfast ardour burned

With that gigantic foe to cope ;
His eagle eye on distant hills ^ discerned

The sunrise of a living hope.
Thence undismayed through lands afar,
With steady motion like a star.
That knows not haste, nor doubt, nor rest.
Still on, and on, and on he pressed.
Till from that Titan,^ prostrate and forlorn,

That soul of iron mix'd with clay.
The purple mantle of his pride was torn,

The strong sword wrench'd away.
Then first our hero paused, whilst Europe shed
Her stars, and crowns, and honours on his head ;
And though he sought no glory, found his name
The light that fiU'd the golden skies of fame.

His deeds in war were great, but greater still
The high clear spirit, the unfaltering will ;

' Orb, — the Duke's course is compared to that of the sun in
one day.

2 Gaul, Frenchman.

* Hills, the heights of Torres Vedras.

* Titan, giant ; in this case it is applied to Napoleon.

THE DUKE'S FUNERAL, 227

His intellect all honoured, not so much
For gifts which dazzle wheresoever they touch,
As that in him calm courage, zeal like fire,
Which when fate darkened only blazed the higher,
And patient justice that no wrong could tire,
Enrich'd a simple soul without pretence.
And to rare genius raised its common sense. •
He was by all beloved, but less because
His sword had triumphed in his country's
cause.
Than that men knew
His life was true ;
That when he saw his duty, power and pelf,*
All lust of glory and all thought of self.

Away like dross he threw ;
That not ambition's lures, nor wounded pride,

Nor malice of unjust rebuke.
From honour's instant path could turn aside
One footmark of the Iron Duke.
• ••••••

This is why the land wept o'er him.
And as one man the people bore him.
To sleep where Nelson slept before him.

Sir Francis H. Doyle.

* Pelf, riches. The word is generally used to signify moaey
obtained in an unworthy manner.

P2

228 REIGN OF VICTORIA.

LVIII. WARS UNDER QUEEN VICTORIA.

1. The wars of Queen Victoria's reign were
waged chiefly at a distance. In 1841 an English
force, which had been placed in Afghanistan to sup-
port a native prince, was suddenly attacked by the
natives and had to retreat in the depth of winter
through a rocky country full of steep mountain
passes, where it was so easy to cut them off that
only two men safely reached Jellalabad. Here Sir
Robert Sale bravely defended himself till the spring,
when General Pollock relieved him and defeated
the Afghans.

2. In 1846 there began a war with the Sikhs,
a warlike people in the north of India, in which,
after several victories, the Punjaub, or Country of
the Five Rivers^ tributaries to the Indus, was added
to the English dominions in India.

3. There was, however, no European war till
1854. The Russians had always longed to drive
the Turks out of Europe, saying that Turkey was
a very sick man, near his death, but the English
and French joined together to prevent the Rus-
sians from thus gaining Constantinople, and sent
their fleets and armies to guard it.

4. In the Crimea, the peninsula projecting into

the Black Sea, the Russians had a great fortified

town, called Sebastopol, which was intended as a

stronghold whence to attack Constantinople. It

was decided to lay siege to t\C\s ^\a.cfty «,tid the

THE WAR IN THE CRIMEA. 229

English and French armies landed in the Crimea.
The English commander was Fitzroy Somerset,
lord Aaglan, and six days after the landing, a
great victory was gained on the banks of the river
Alma, on the 20th of September, 1854.

5. Next, Sebastopol was besieged by sea and
land, and a Russian army came to try to relieve
it, and drive away the allies. An order, which
was either wrongly repeated or wrongly delivered,
caused 600 English horsemen to charge a Russian
battery, and, though all knew it was almost cer-
tain death, no one faltered. They rode a mile
and a half through shot and shell, fulfilled their
orders, and fought their way back, men dropping
every moment, and often sabred by the Russians.
The Balaklava charge, though a sad waste of life,
was a grand instance of British valour and discipline.

6. On the Sth of November a great night
attack was made by the Russians on the besiegers
on the heights of Inkermann. There was a terrible
fight, lasting eight hours, but the English held
their ground with unbroken valour against four
times their number, till the French came and
finally drove back the enemy.

7. The siege lasted the whole winter amid
much suffering from cold, hunger, and exposure.
It was then that the brave Flormce Nightingale
brought a band of nurses to take care of the
wounded, and all England did their best for the
comfort of the soldiers.

8. On the i8th of June, 1855, an attack was

INDIAAT MUTINY. 231

made on Sebastopol, and beaten off, to the great
sorrow of the good old commander, Lord Raglan,
who died a few days later. However, the siege
continued, the French took one tower, and the
English an outwork, known as the Rcdan^ but they
had to leave it in a few minutes, and almost im-
mediately after, it blew up.

9. The Russians withdrew from the nearer half
of the town in the course of the next night. They
got away so quietly that the English only found
out what had happened by missing the sound of the
cannon. The Russians now thought it time to make
peace, and in 1856 the Peace of Paris was signed, the
Russians engaging not to molest the Turks, and
the Turks promising not to misuse their Christian
subjects.

10. There was much joy at this peace, but in

1857 there was a dreadful war in India. The
Sepoys, or native soldiers in the English service,
imagined that there was a plan for making them
Christians against their will. The natives, though
much better treated by the English than by their
own princes, hated the rule of strangers, and in

1858 there was a mutiny all over the province of
Bengal.

11. The Sepoys murdered the English officers,
with their wives and children. Terrible massacres
took place, the worst of all at Cawnpore, where
every English man, woman, and child were
slaughtered, and only one man lived to tell the
tale. The Sepoys collected at Delhi, and shut

233 REIGN OF VICTORIA.

themselves up there, while another body besieged
the English in the city of Lucknow.

12. Calcutta had remained quiet, and so had
the Presidency of Bombay. General Havelock
tried to relieve Lncknow, and won twelve battles

[sir COLIN CAMPrELI,.]

on his march, and he only entered the place to
die of cholera not long after, having fulfilled the
great wish of his life, to be a victorious general.
English troops were sent out with all speed, SelM
was taken on the 2oth of September, and Sir Colin

THE EMPRESS OF INDIA. 233

Campbell at last brought off the brave defenders of
Lucknow.

13. The mutinous Sepoys were hunted down
like wild beasts, for revenge had made the British
troops very cruel, but it was not before a full
year had passed that the mutiny was entirely put
down, and peace restored. After this, India ceased
to be governed by the Company, which had existed
since the time of Queen Elizabeth, and was placed
under the immediate government of the Crown.
There is no longer a separate army for India in the
Company's service, but all alike are the soldiers of
the Queen. In 1876, the title of Empress of India
was added to those of the Queen.

Persons : Sir Robert Sale— The Sikhs— Fitzroy Somerset,
Lord Rag^lan— General Havelock — Sir Colin Campbell.

Da/is : Siege of Jellalabad, 1842— War with the Sikhs,
1846 — Battle of the Alma, Charge of Balaklava, and Battle
of Inkermann, 1854— Sebastopol taken, 1855— Peace of Paris,
1856— Mutiny in India commenced, 1857.

LIX. BALAKLAVA.

Thin glowing threads of English horse.
Why do your haughty trumpets wake ?

Through yon gray myriads,^ massed in force.
None but the mad could hope to break.

^ MyriadSi numbers that cannot easily be counted.

234 REIGN OF VICTORIA.

* Men may be mad or men be wise,

* But not with us the question lies.
'Although we guess not their intent,

' This one thing well we know,

* That where the Light Brigade is sent,

* The Light Brigade will go.'

What need to tell.

Of splintering shell.
Of cannon-shot and rifle-ball }
The death hail smites them one and all.
Through smoke that wraps them like a pail,
As rain drops, each on each, they fall.

Horse rolls o'er horse.

Corse hideth corse.
The gaps grow wide and wider,

Deep-wounded men

Crawl back again.
Steeds rush without a rider.
But still against the wondering foe,
In stubborn silence forward go,
Unchecked, unslackening, undismayed.
The living of the Light Brigade,
Till that wild onset overbears
The guns in front, one moment theirs ;
Sudden and sharp the halt is made.
They seem in mute reprogf to say,

* Your orders have been now obeyed,

* As far as in us lay.

* Yours are these guns, with life-blood red,

* But can ye hold them by the dead ? '
Meanwhile the cannon from each hill

BALAKLA VA. 235

Kept showering slaughter on them still.
All paths with death are lined ;
Dense columns bar their onward course,
And long blue streaks of Russian horse

Like nets are spread behind.
That shattered remnant pauses there,
Blown chargers, wounded men.
Oh ! they will break like yielding air,

And who will blame them then ?
Not so, through that bewildered throng
Like fire the leaders glance along.
From rank to rank, too far to hear,
We seem to feel a British cheer.
While Fancy, from each blade waved high,
Each gesture fierce and flashing eye,

Can proud words, such as these supply :

* Gather ye, gather ye, close up once more,

* Swords red to the wristband, hearts steel to the

core.

* Lance, sabre, and carbine, dragoon and Cossack

* Are strong to the sight, but they dare not attack.

* No cutting, give point, were they twenty to one,

' Men who wait to be charged, when we gallop will

run.*
They gather, they gather, they close up once

more.
Swords red to the wristband, hearts steel to the

core.
Though wide wounds may weaken, though horses

may blow.
They have pace enough left for a dash at the foe;

236 REIGN OF VICTORIA.

Then as hawks might sweep down through the

toils of a spider,
Right at the blue line goes each horse and its rider.
It is rent like a rag, burst like bubbles asunder,
When down from each height roars redoubled their

thunder.
Still unstayed and unbroken they cut their way

through,
Past spears that outflank them, from swords that

pursue.
With cannon and riflemen hot on their track.
Destroyed but unconquered we welcome them

back.
Not a man in that death charge his chief hath

forsaken.
And the guns that you flung them at, were they

not taken ?

And though beneath yon fatal hill.

Their dead the valley strew.
Grimly with cold hands, clenching still

The broken swords they drew.
We will not call their lives ill spent.

If in all time they shew
That where the Light Brigade is sent.

The Light Brigade will go.

Sir F. II. Doyle.

rr^^f^mst

MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. 237

LX. THE SECOND TWENTY
VICTORIAN YEARS.

1. The year 1861 ended with a great mis-
fortune to the Queen and to the whole country.
The Prince Consort, who had well earned the title
oi Albert the Good^ died of fever, on the 14th of De-
cember, at Windsor Castle. He had great abilities
and strength of character, but his whole life had
been spent in assisting the Queen in her many
cares, never putting himself forward into her place,
but keeping so much in the background that his
full worth was hardly known till he was missed.

2. Two years later, the Prince of Wales was
married to the Princess Alexandra of Denmark,
amid the greatest rejoicings, and bonfires on
ajmost every hill* top in England.

3. A short war took place, in 1868, with Theo-
dore, the half savage King of Abyssinia. He had
once seemed willing to let his people be instructed
and improved, and had several British subjects
living at his capital, Magdala ; but taking offence
at a letter to the Queen not being answered as he
expected, he threw them into prison, and refused
to release them. Sir Robert Napier was therefore
sent out, made a most skilful march, and stormed
Magdala. Theodore killed himself in his rage and
despair, and his only child, a boy of five years old,
was brought to England to be educated, but he
died just as he was reaching manhood.

238 REIGN OF VICTORIA.

4. In the year 1867, a bill had been passed ex-
tending the franchise (that is, the power of voting
for members of Parliament) to all householders in
borough towns who paid rates, and lodgers paying
ten pounds for the year ; and in counties to persons
paying twelve pounds rent. Five years later, in
1872, another act was passed that votes should be
given by ballot, in the hope that when the names
were not recorded, it would be less likely that the
voters would be led to take bribes, or be drawn
aside by fear or favour instead of following their
judgment and conscience.

5. In order that no one should be too ignorant
thus to do his duty to the State, Acts were passed
in 1870, and again in 1876, to prevent any children
from growing up without being taught. Their
parents have the choice as to what schools they
will send them to, and in what form of doctrine they
shall be instructed ; but no child in health can be
allowed to run wild and idle, or be set to work
before he or she has gone through a course of
instruction.

6. Railroads and electric telegraphs have made
communication with all parts of the world so rapid
and easy, that what was a wonder fifty years ago
is a common thing now. Kings and Queens go
about and visit one another as they never thought
of doing formerly, and England has been visited
at different times by most of the Princes of Europe,
besides the Shah of Persia and the Queen of the
Sandwich Islands. The Prince of Wales has

TREATY OF BERLIN. 239

visited America and India, and his brother, the
Duke of Edinburgh, an officer in the Navy, has
visited most of the English colonies, in spite of
being once badly wounded by an assassin in
Australia.

7. A war took place with the savage Negro
King of Ashantee, who had interfered with
British trade ; but Sir Garnet Wolseley successfully
carried this through, taking Coomassie, the capital,
almost without loss, and bringing King Koffee to
terms.

8. After the Crimean war, the Christians in
Turkey had been placed under the protection of
the European powers, but they were still often ill-
treated. There were insurrections in the provinces
which were thought to be encouraged by Russia
in the hope of gaining Turkey. Much savage
ferocity was shown by the Turks in putting down
these risings, especially in Bulgaria, and this led
to another war between Turkey and Russia, and it
was thought that England was bound by her
treaties to take up the defence of the weaker
country, where the Turks were fighting bravely.
It did not, however, prove necessary to take up
arms. Only the English fleet was sent to Constan-
tinople and troops were brought to Malta, thus
showing that the Government would interfere to
prevent the conquest of Turkey. On this the
Czar consented to a new treaty, which was made
at Berlin in 1878. Again the Sultan made engage-
ments with the European powers that his Christian

240 REIGN OF VICTORIA,

subjects should not be molested, and by another
convention made between England and Turkey,
the English undertook to protect the Asiatic pro-
vinces of the latter country, on receiving the
Island of Cyprus from the Turks in order to have
a station near at hand in case of need.

9. That same year, 1878, the colony of Natal
became involved in a quarrel with Cetewayo, the
King of the Zulu tribes on the frontier. A war
began, and the English advanced into the Zulu
country in two divisions. One of these, by some
unhappy error, allowed itself to be surprised and
cut off by the Zulus. Almost every living creature
in the camp at Isandalana was slaughtered, and
very few escaped. The two lieutenants who carried
the colours were found dead upon them, close to the
River Tugela, which forms the boundary between
Natal and Zululand.

ID. However, the other camp, under Colonel
Pearson, held out bravely, though surrounded by
Zulus ; and at last, more troops coming out from
home, a victory was gained at TJliindi, and Cete-
wayo was hunted down, made prisoner, and brought
to the Cape. His power has been broken up under
lesser chiefs, who may not be so dangerous.

II. The Ameer, or Prince of Afghanistan,
having refused to receive an English Resident at
his Court at Cabul, it was suspected at the per-
suasion of the Russians, another war was begun
with him. He died in the midst of it, just as he
had been defeated. His son, Ta^'ob ]QiSiar, w'as

THE FUTURE, 241

set up in his stead by the English, but did not
prevent the Cabulese from attacking the English
Residency and killing all within. On the advance
of the English, Yakoob fled and surrendered to
them ; but these fierce mountain tribes are hard to
subdue, and in their country all is as yet in an un-
settled state.

12. Thus, so far as is possible, we have gone
through the main events of English history. Let
us remember that what is yet to come depends
upon ourselves. The nation is made up of single
persons, and whoever tries to lead an honest,
brave, upright life, doing his or her duty to God,
to man, and to the country, is helping to keep our
beloved old England in honour and in safety.

Persons: The Prince Consort— The Prince and Princess of
Wales— Theodore, King of Abyssinia— Sir Robert Napier-
Sir Garnet Wolseley— Cetewayo, King of the Zulus— Yakoob
Khan.

Dates: Storming of Magdala and the passing of a new
Reform Bill, 1867— The Education Acts, 1870 and 1876— The
Ballot Act, 1872— War with the Zulus began, 1878.

T\T C\

242 TABLES,

KINGS OF THE HOUSES OF TUDOR,
STEWART, AND BRUNSWICK.

1485. Henry VIL, great-great-great-grandson to Edward
III., and Elizabeth, daughter to Edward IV.

1509. Henry VIIL, son to Henry VIL, grandson to
Edward IV.

1547. Edward VL, son to Henry VIIL

1553. Mary L, daughter to Henry VIIL

1558. Elizabeth, daughter to Henry VIIL

1603. James L, great-grandson to Henry VIL

1625. Charles I., son to James I.

1649. ^^ Commonwealth,

1660. Charles II., son to Charles I.

1683. James II., son to Charles I.

1685. William III., grandson to Charles I., and Mary IL,
daughter to James II.

1702. Anne, daughter to James 1 1.

1 7 14. George L, great-grandson to James I.

1725. George IL, son to George I.

1760. George III., grandson to George IL

1820. George IV., son to George III.

1830. William IV., son to George HI.

1837. Victoria, grand-daughter to George III.

STEPS IN THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION.

(About) 900. Alfred drew up a code of Old English

Customs.
1066. WilJiam L brought in the feudal system.

TABLES. 243

121.5. Magna Charta.

1265. Representatives sent to Parliament.

1294. Right of taxing secured to Parliament

1 308. Peers and Commons separated.

1679. Habeas Corpus Act.

1694. Triennial Parliaments.

1707. Union with Scotland

1 716. Septennial Parliaments.

1800. Union with Ireland.

1829. Roman Catholics and Nonconformists admitted to

sit in Parliament and hold offices of State.
1832. The Reform Bill passed.
1867. The Second Reform Bill
1872. Vote by Ballot.

THE QUEEN'S DESCENT FROM KING
ALFRED AND FROM WILLIAM L

Egbert.

Ethclwolf

Alfred the Great.

Edward the Elder.

Edmund I.

Edgar the Peaceable.

Ethelred the Unready.

Edmund Ironside.

Edward the Stranger. William I.

Margaret Atheling. Henry I.

David I. of Scotland. Matilda.

Henry, Prince of Scotland. Henry II.

David, Earl of Huntingdon. ^oVvtu

<i2

244

TABLES.

Isabel, Countess of An-

nandale.
Robert Bruce.
Robert Bruce.
Robert I. of Scotland
Marjorie, m, Walter

Stewart
Robert 11. of Scotland.
Robert III. of Scotland.
James I. of Scotland.

James II. of Scotland.
James III. of Scotland.

Henry HI.

Edward I.
Edward 11.
Edward HI.
Lionel

Philippa, m, Mortimer.
Roger Mortimer.
Anne, ;//. Edmund of

York.
Richard of York.
Edward IV.

Elizabeth of York.
James IV. of Scotland married Margaret Tudor.
James V. of Scotland.
Mary m, Henry Stewart
James I. of England.
Elizabeth m, Frederick of the Rhine.
Sophia ;//. Ernest of Brunswick.
George I.
George II.
Frederick.

George III.

Edward.

Victoria.

o
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O

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D
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^m\\k

244

TABLES,

Isabel, Countess of An-

nandale.
Robert Bruce.
Robert Bruce.
Robert I. of Scotland
Marjorie, m. Walter

Stewart
Robert II. of Scotland.
Robert III. of Scotland.
James I. of Scotland.

James II. of Scotland.
James III. of Scotland.

Henry III.

Edward I.
Edward II.
Edward III.
Lionel

Philippa, m, Mortimer.
Roger Mortimer.
Anne, m. Edmund of

York.
Richard of York.
Edward IV.

Elizabeth of York.
James IV. of Scotland married Margaret Tudor.
James V. of Scotland.
Mary m, Henry Stewart
James I. of England.
Elizabeth m. Frederick of the Rhine.
Sophia ;//. Ernest of Brunswick.

«

George I.
George II.
Frederick.

George III.

Edward.

Victoria.

0^

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o

D
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O

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D
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244

TABLES,

Isabel, Countess of An-

nandale.
Robert Bruce.
Robert Bruce.
Robert I. of Scotland
Marjorie, m. Walter

Stewart
Robert II. of Scotland.
Robert III. of Scotland.
James I. of Scotland.

James II. of Scotland.
James III. of Scotland.

Henry III.

Edward I.
Edward 11.
Edward III.
Lionel

Philippa, m, Mortimer.
Roger Mortimer.
Anne, m. Edmund of

York.
Richard of York.
Edward IV.

Elizabeth of York.
James IV. of Scotland married Margaret Tudor.
James V. of Scotland.
Mary m, Henry Stewart
James I. of England.
Elizabeth m, Frederick of the Rhine.
Sophia m, Ernest of Brunswick.
George I.
George II.
Frederick.

George HI.

Edward.

Victoria.

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244

TABLES.

Isabel, Countess of An-

nandale.
Robert Bruce.
Robert Bruce.
Robert I. of Scotland
Maijorie, ;//. Walter

Stewart
Robert II. of Scotland.
Robert III. of Scotland.
James I. of Scotland.

James 11. of Scotland.
James III. of Scotland.

Henry III.

Edward I.
Edward II.
Edward III.
Lionel

Philippa, m, Mortimer.
Roger Mortimer.
Anne, w. Edmund of

York.
Richard of York.
Edward IV.

Elizabeth of York.
James IV. of Scotland married Margaret Tudor.
James V. of Scotland.
Mary m. Henry Stewart
James I. of England.
Elizabeth m, Frederick of the Rhine.
Sophia m, Ernest of Brunswick.
George I.
George II.
Frederick.

George III.

Edward.

Victoria.

0^

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BATTLES.

15 13. Guingate, or

the

1745. Fontenoy.

Spurs.

Preston Pans.

Flodden.

1746. Culloden.

1547. Pinkey.

1757. Plassy.

1642. Edgehill.

1759. Minden.

Chalgrove.

Quebec.

J 643. Newbury.

1775. Bunker's HilL

1644. Marston Moor.

1806. Maida.

1645. Naseby.

1808. Vimiera.

165 1. Worcester.

1809. Corunna.

1689. Killiecrankie.

Talavera.

1690. The Boyne.

1 8 10. Busaco.

1704. Blenheim.

181 2. Salamanca.

1706. Ramilies.

1813. Vittoria.

1707. Almanza.

1 8 14. Pyrenees.

1708. Oudenarde.

Orthes.

1709. Malplaquet.

'Ibulouse.

1 7 15. Preston.

1815. Waterloo.

Dumblane, or Sheriff

1854. Alma.

Muir.

Balaklava.

1743. Dettingen.

Inkermann.

SEA F

IGHTS.

1588. Defeat of the

Ar-

1797. Camperdown.

mada.

1798. Aboukir, or the Nile.

1666. At the Thames.

1 80 1. Copenhagen.

1692. Ta Hogue,

1805. Trafalgar.

1782, Jamaica.

1816. Algiers.

T^gj. St Vincent.

1827. Navarino.

QUESTIONS, 247

QUESTIONS.

The Kings.

How many Royal Houses or dynasties have reigned
in England ?

How did the Norman line come in ?

How did the Plantagenet line come in ?

How did the Tudors come in ?

What was the claim of the Stewarts ?

How was the House of Brunswick brought in ?

How many Queens in their own right have there
been?

Wlien was England without King or Queen ?

Which King died young ?

Which Queen never married ?

What Princes have our Queens married ?

Which of these were acknowledged as Kings ?

What other claim had William IH. to be King?

Which King was beheaded ?

Which King abdicated ?

In what two reigns were there Regencies ?

For what causes ?

The Union.

When did Scotland and England first have one King?
AVhen did the Union with Scotland take place ?
What was meant by the Union ?
Who was the first Sovereign of United Great Britain?
When did the Union with Ireland take place ?
Who was the first Sovereign of the United British
Isles ?

24S QUESTIONS.

The Five R's.

What was the Reformation ?
What was the Rebellion ?
What was the Restoration ?
What was the Revolution ?
What was Reform ?

Changes.

What period is meant when we speak of the Common-
wealth ?

Who then governed England ?

Who brought back the Stewart family ?

Why was James II. again expelled ?

What attempts were made to restore him and his
family ?

Where were his- attempts made ?

AVhere was he defeated ?

When was his son's attempt made ?

Where?

In what battles were his friends defeated ?

What was the name of his grandson ?

When did he land in Scotland ?

What were his battles ?

How far did he advance in England ?

Party Names.

Who were the Puritans ?
Who were the Cavaliers ?
Who were the Roundheads ?
Who were the Covenanters ?
Who were the Whigs ?
Who were the Jacobites ?
Who were the Tories ?

QUESTIONS. 249

The Church.

What led to the Church of England breaking with
Rome ?

What two Sovereigns have since been Roman Ca-
tholics ?

When was it made a law that no English Sovereign
may be a Roman Catholic ?

When was there a persecution by the Rr)man Ca-
tholics?

How many persons suffered then?

When was the Bible first read in English ?

Who caused our present version to be made ?

When was the Prayer-Book arranged ?

When was its use forbidden ?

When was it restored ?

What four Archbishops of Canterbury have died
violent deaths ?

And for what causes ?

What were the Seven Bishops tried for ?

Wars.

Who have been the greatest English Generals ?
Who have been the greatest English Admirals ?
What commanders have been killed in the moment of
victory ?

What reigns have been peaceful throughout ?

In what reigns have there been civil wars ?

In what reigns have there been wars with France ?

In what reigns have there been wars with Spain ?

In what reign was there a war with Russia ?

When was Calais lost ?

What was the Spanish Armada ?

250 QUESTIONS.

How was it defeated?

Who were Queen Elizabeth's great sailors ?

What battles were fought in the great Rebellion ?

What sea fights took place with the Dutch ?

What battles were caused by the English Revolution?

What was the War of the Spanish Succession ?

What battle was then fought in Germany ?

\Vhat t)attles in Spain ?

What battles in the Low Countries ?

What Spanish fortress was taken ?

What peace ended the War of the Spanish Suc-
cession ?

At what date ?

What was the War of the Austrian Succession ?

What battles were then fought ?

In what battle was George II. present ?

What attack was made on Scotland during this war ?

\Vhat peace ended the AVar of the Austrian Suc-
cession ?

AVhat was the Seven Years* War ?

Where did the English and French chiefly fight ?

What was the Indian victory ?

What was the American victory ?

What battle was fought in Germany ?

What convention ended our part in the Seven Years*
War?

What was the American War?

With what battle did it begin?

How did it end ?

In what year ?

What was the French Revolution ?

What great naval victories were then gained?

Which were won by Lord Nelson ?

QUESTIONS. 251

Where did Lord Nelson die ?
What peace was made ?
In what year?
How was it broken ?
^Vhat was the Peninsular War?
• What battles were gained there?
Who was the first French Emperor ?
Where was he finally overthrown ?
What was the Crimean War?
What were the battles there fought?
What treaty ended it ?
In what wars did Marlborough fight ?
Where did Clive fight ?

Where were the wars of the Duke of Cumberland ?
Where were Nelson's chief victories?
AVhere were Wellington's battles?

The Colonies.

What are Colonies ?

Where was the first British Colony ?

Who first led English people to America ?

What were the settlers in North America In the time
of James I. called?

When was Jamaica gained by the English ?

When did the East India Company begin?

How was Canada gained ?

When were the United States of America separated
from England ?

How was the Cape of Good Hope gained?

What was the Indian Mutiny?

What is the Queen now called ?

\Vhat colonies have we gained by peaceful settle-
ment?

252 QUESTIONS.

The Constitution.

Who is the head of the Kingdom ?
What body governs with the Sovereign ?
What does Parliament consist of?
Where does it meet ?
Who are the Peers ?
Who are the Commons?
Who choose the Commons ?
What is a borough ?
Who have votes in a borough ?
Who have votes in a county ?
What is the duty of a voter ?
Who must consent to every law ?
Which House is concerned with money matters ?
When mtist a Parliament be dissolved and a new one
elected ?

But when can it be dissolved ?

Who assist the Sovereign in governing ?

THE END.

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